AMRITA SHER-GIL : AN INDIAN RHAPSODY – CITY PALACE JAIPUR

18th January – 6 PM – City Palace Jaipur

For the Indian people, Amrita Sher-Gil is a legend, a symbol. Born in
Budapest in the early years of the Great War, this artist who was behind
contemporary Indian painting died in the winter of 1941, at age 28. From
Delhi to Bombay, and for all the artists of the Indian Diaspora throughout
the world, she remains an emblem, a memory; Her charisma, sometimes
compared to that of the Mexican artist Frida Khalo, situated her at the
origins of Indian modernity.
Shot in New Delhi, Bombay, Simla, Budapest and Paris, the film retraces
her wide-ranging life using her letters to friends and family. The film
describes a commitment to painting and a life in art as legendary as
certain Indian movie stars, such as Smita Patil and Raj Kapoor.

Réalisation / Director 

Patrick Cazals est l’auteur d’une cinquantaine de films documentaires et portraits d’artistes, d’écrivains et de cinéastes depuis 1977.

Journaliste, il est un ancien collaborateur du quotidien « Libération », de la revue les « Cahiers du Cinéma » et de la radio France Culture.

Il est également l’auteur de plusieurs ouvrages dont : «  Musidora, la dixième muse  » (éd. Veyrier), « Sergueï Paradjanov » (éd. Cahiers du Cinéma ),  «  Léon Moussinac  » ( éd. Ensad ), «  Charles Boyer, l’ardeur et l’élégance » ( éd. du Horla )

En 1987 il crée sa propre maison de production : Les Films du Hora puis en 2018  Les Editions du Horla. 

Dans sa filmographie : « Doisneau des villes, Doisneau des champs »(1993),  « Sergueï Paradjanov, le rebelle »(2004), « L’Ouragan Kalatozov »  (2009), « Musidora, la dixième muse »( 2013), «  Léon Moussinac, l’héritage de Spartacus » (2017), « L’Enigme Charles Boyer » (2019).

FICHE TECHNIQUE DU FILM : 

Production : Les Films du Horla  en 2001 

Scénario et réalisation : Patrick Cazals

Image : Jacques Malnou

Son : Raja Singh

Montage : Marie-Agnès Blum 

Mixage : Eric Lesachet – Yellow Cab Studios 

Durée : 52 mn  

Produit avec le concours du CNC et du Ministère des Affaires étrangères.

Collaboration en Inde : Orange Cat productions.

                                       LES FILMS DU HORLA 

Indian Press about two Patrick Cazals films :

PARIS INDE SKETCHES AND CANVAS

PRESS :

Paris-Inde, beautifully photographed, this outstanding documentary film

Comprehensively covers the life and work of four major centemporary

Indian artists – Krishna Reddy, Raza, Akbar Padamsee, Ram Kumar, who

have extended stays in Paris.

The film tries to bring out the Parisian influence on these artists .

                                                                    Free Press Journal – Mumbaï

Technically, the documentary is of high order. The director goes deep into

the artistic processes which characterise each of the four artists..

                                                                   Times of India 

AMRITA SHER-GIL AN INDIAN RHAPSODY

PRESS :

 “ The intention was not to make a biography, but a film on how and why this woman was important and the influence she still has on artists today “.

It is indeed Cazals’look at Amrita Sher-Gil in her time and in history, as an

Artist and more importantly, as a woman, that makes for a fascination film. “

                                                                   Mid-day Mumbaï  

                                                                  ( Sonali Velinker )

“ She has a road named after her in New Delhi.Her paintings are fond in the

National Gallery of Modern Art. But how many of us know about her or her short life in which she explored the realms of contemporary art in the Indian

context ? It required a French director, Patrick Cazals to make a very exciting 

documentary on her Amrita Sher-Gil

                                                                 The Hindu ( Deepa H Ramakrishnan)

2 )

“ A distant perspective helps. which explains why French filmmaker Patrick Cazals has been more successful than an Indian filmaker in capturing the 

spirit of legendary artist Amrita Sher Gil’s paintings in his documentary film.

And though Cazals had to literally rewind half a century back in time his 52-minute documentary titled Amrita Sher-Gil, an indian rhapsody is able 

to make the most of whatever material was available and present it in a way that explains what placed her at the heart of Indian modernism.

The film, according to Cazals, was shot in Budapest, New Delhi, Paris, Mumbai and Shimla and builds on a shattered narrative taken from Amrita’s letters sent to her family…..”

                                                               Times of India ( Pune Times ) 

                                                        ( Huned Contractor )