VICTOR BANERJEE IN A FILM BY GORAN PASKALJEVIC TORONTO INT L FILM FESTIVAL MASTERS
After a long exile, Rahul returns to his village in the Himalayas. It causes commotion amongst the villagers, who have never forgiven him for his sins in the past. He must face the isolated world full of old prejudices, gender inequalities, and castebased injustices in which women have no right to choose their own destiny. WATCH THE TRAILER
CAST Victor BANERJEE Rahul Negi Geetanjali THAPA Shaanti Uttara BAOKAR Priya Raj ZUTSHI Taxi driver V.K. SHARMA Balbir Avijit DUTT Sunder S.P. MAMGAIN Priest Ambar KANT Munna Priya SHARMA Asha Sohaila KAPUR Maya Shalini SUNDRIYAL Darshani Bimal BAHUGUNA Village elder Abhishek BAHUGUNA Priest s assistant Kunal MALLA Foreman Prabodh BHAJNI Asha s brother Kiran Deep SHARMA Asha s mother Vimla DHAUDIYAL Sunder s wife Urmila KANDWAL Daughter-in-law Pradeep SHARMA Villager D.R. PUROHIT Asha s uncle Ina PANT Asha s sister Chirag THAPA Groom CREW Goran PASKALJEVIC Goran PASKALJEVIC Victor BANERJEE Milan SPASIC Kristina POZENEL Satadal MITRA Neeti JAIN Nenad VUKADINOVIC Velibor HAJDUKOVIC Nebojsa ZORIC Zoran CULIC Nemanja PETKOVIC D.R. PUROHIT Ramesh MISHRA Goran PASKALJEVIC Philip and Madeleine ZEPTER Gobindo J.C. ROY Jelica ROSANDIC Director Writers Director of photography Editor Art director Costume designer Sound recordist Sound mixers Camera operator and visual effects Focus puller Research and cultural consultant Music : traditional (musician flute) Producer Coproducers Executive producers
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VICTOR BANERJEE EARLY LIFE Banerjee was born to a Zamindari Bangali Hindu family and is a descendant of The Raja Bahadur of Chanchal and the Raja of Uttarpara. He received his schooling at St. Edmund s School, Shillong, and graduated in English Literature from St. Xavier s College, Calcutta and did Post Graduate studies in Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University. He turned down a scholarship to the Trinity College in Dublin who had offered,through the Irish Christian Brothers, to admit him as an Operatic Tenor. He was the lead tenor in the the Calcutta Light Opera Group production of the Desert Song and even played Jesus in Bombay Theatre s first ever musical production, Godspell. CAREER Victor Banerjee (born 15 October 1946) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi, Bengali and English language films. He has worked for prominent directors such as Roman Polanski, James Ivory, Sir David Lean, Jerry London, Ronald Neame, Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal, Satyajit Ray and Ram Gopal Varma. In 1984, he acted as Dr. Aziz Ahmed in David Lean s film A Passage to India, bringing him to the attention of Western audiences. Victor was nominated for BAFTA award for this role in 1986. He won two other awards for this role: Evening Standard British Film Award and NBR Award (National Board of Review, USA). In April 1985, at a special event in Louisiana, where John Travolta and Loretta Swit were also honoured, Banerjee was given the Showarama Award by the Motion Pictures Association of America as New International Star. He acted in Merchant Ivory Productions Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie s Pictures, Satyajit Ray s Shatranj Ke Khilari and Ghare Baire and in Mrinal Sen s Mahaprithivi. Though in recent years he has been involved with Bollywood, he is affiliated with the Bengali film industry. He also plays character actor roles from time to time in the British cinema. He was also cast in the critically acclaimed role of Jesus in the 1988 production of the York Mystery Plays, by director Steven Pimlott. He is the only person in India who has won the National Award in three separate categories. As a Cinematographer for his documentary called Where No Journeys End which, in competition with 3100 entries from 27 countries, also won the Gold Award at the Houston International Film Festival. He won an award for Direction with the best documentary on Tourism called The Splendour of Garhwal and Roopkund and he won the Best Supporting Actor award for his work in Satyajit Ray s Ghare Baire. LIFE When not in Calcutta, he is to be found in the hill station of Landour in the Lower Western Himalaya in northern India. He has written short stories and is a regular contributor of articles to magazines, periodicals and newspapers in India, on diverse and eclectic topics. His nonchalance to be politically incorrect and write with a bold and satirical pen, has been respected and admired widely. He has involved himself from time to time in human rights and labor issues. He helped form the Screen Extras Union of India and campaigned for the rights of Garhwali farmers. He also campaigned for the creation of Uttarakhand in a speech entitled Uttarakhand: A People Denied and has been credited with starting the movement that eventually led to the creation of the Uttarakhand Solidarity Network. For almost forty years, he has run a Blind School in Upper Assam, called the Moran Blind School, where over seventy boys and girls from the families of tea garden workers and the poorest of villagers,receive free board and lodging and an education till they leave for junior college. He is the Brand Ambassador for the Srimanto Shankardev Movement, that is reviving the culture of neo-vaishnavites that was first introduced in the 15th Century, in Assam. He is the Brand Ambassador for the Dimasa Tribe of the Cachar Hills of Northeast India, one of the most cultured peoples of the northeast tracts, one the earliest Sino-Tibetan tribes to inhabit the eastern Himalaya. He is the Brand Ambassador of the Bird Watchers Association of Uttarakhand. He has for several years been the Goodwill Ambassadorfor MENTAID an organization that cares for the mentally challenged in Calcutta.
GORAN PASKALJEVIC Goran Paskaljevic is one of Europe s most respected independant directors. He was born in Belgrade (Serbia) and he studied at the well-known Prague school of cinema (FAMU). He has made 30 documentaries and 17 feature films, shown and acclaimed at the most prestigious international film festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and San Sebastian ) In 2001, Variety International Film Guide marked him as one of the world s top five directors of the year. The Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) in 2008 and the British Film Institute (London) in 2010, both presented a full retrospective of his feature films, along with the publication of a monograph (in English) about his work. His new film Dev Bhoomi, Land of the Gods, an Indian/ Serbian coproduction, has been shot in India, in the Himalaya mountains, in Hindi and English. FILMOGRAPHY Long feature films - Selected awards Dev Bhoomi (Land of the Gods) 2016 Toronto Film Festival Masters (World Premiere) When Day Breaks (Kad Svane Dan) 2012 Toronto Film Festival Masters Serbian entry for the Oscars Cleveland Film Festival - Grand Prix for the Best Film Warsaw Jewish Motifs Film Festival - Silver Award for the Best Feature Film Miami Jewish Film Festival - Audience Award for the Best Film European Film Festival Les Arcs (France) - Audience Award for the Best Film Palm Springs Film Festoval Special Jury Price Honeymoons 2009 Venice Film Festival Toronto Film Festival - Masters Valladolid Film Festival - Grand Prix (Golden Spike) and International Critics FIPRESCI Award for the Best Film Cleveland Film Festival - Grand Prix for the best film Thessaloniki Film Festival (Out of Competition) - Audience Award The Optimists (Optimisti) 2006 Toronto - Masters (World Premiere) Valladolid Film Festival - Best Film (Golden Spike) Best Actor Winner Lazar Ristovski Audience Award for the Best Film Geneva Film Festival - Best Director (Golden Reflect) FIPRESCI Award for the Best Film Midwinter Night s Dream (San Zimske Noci) 2004 San Sebastian Film Festival - Grand Prize of the Jury Toronto Film Festival - Masters Prenominated for the European Academy Awards in all categories Best Serbian film of the year Nashville - Dreammaker Award for the Best Feature Film Montpellier - Golden Antigone for the Best Film Tromsø International Film Festival 2005- International Critics Prize FIPRESCI How Harry Became a Tree 2001 Venice Film Festival (In Competition) Toronto Film Festival - Masters (Gala Premiere) Newport Beach Film Festival - Best Film in all categories Best Foreign Film Best Actor Winner Colm Meaney The Powder Keg aka Cabaret Balkan (Bure baruta) 1998 In the USA released through PARAMOUNT Classics Venice Film Festival International Critics Prize FIPRESCI - Best Film in all categories European Critics Award for the Best European Film 1998 American National Film Board of Review Awards - Voted one of the top five best foreign language films 1999 in the USA Toronto Film Festival - Masters Santa Barbara Film Festival - Grand Prize Haïfa Film Festival - Grand Prize Antalya Film Festival - Grand Prize Someone Else s America (Tudja America) 1995 Cannes Film Festival (Directors Fortnight) - Audience Award Valladolid Film Festival - Grand Prize (Golden Spike) Tango Argentino 1992 Venice Film Festival - Audience Award San Francisco Film Festival - Audience Award Time of Miracles (Vreme cuda) 1990 Cannes Film Festival - Directors Fortnight San Sebastian Film Festival - International Critics Prize FIPRESCI Guardian Angel (Andjeo cuvar) 1987 Cannes Film Festival - Directors Fortnight The Elusive Summer of 68 (Varljivo leto 68) 1984 Twilight Time (Suton) 1982 Produced for MGM/UA, starring Karl Malden Chicago Film Festival - Grand Prize UNICEF Grand Prize Special Treatment (Poseban Tretman) 1980 Cannes Film Festival (Competition) - Best Supporting Actress (Milena Dravic) Golden Globe Hollywood - Nomination for Best Foreign Film...And the Days Are Passing (Zemaljski dani teku) 1979 Venice Film Festival (Competition) The Dog who Loved Trains (Pas koji je voleo vozove) 1978 Berlin Film Festival (Competition) Beach Guard in Winter (Cuvar plaze u zimskom periodu) 1976 Berlin Film Festival (Competition), International Critics Prize
DIRECTOR S STATEMENT As an admirer of the great poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore, over nearly one and a half years I have made extended stays in India, especially in the northern state of Uttarakhand, known also as Dev Bhoomi (The Land of the Gods), in the mountains of the Himalaya. It is almost needless to say how impressed I was by the beautiful landscapes and eternal snow-covered peaks that inspire in every human being a feeling of wholeness and peace. But what touched me even more than this exceptionally beautiful nature was the people who live in these mountains. They are very warm and dignified despite the poverty and the crushing weight of the prejudices and rules governing the caste system in which they live. I particularly felt the need to make known, through a feature film, this corner of our fascinating planet. Victor Banerjee, the great Bengali actor who decided long ago to settle there, and Professor Purohit, one of the leading specialists in that region, decided to accompany me during my various stays. With their guidance, they helped me write this scenario inspired by authentic stories that I saw and heard over there. I chose to use in this film a cinematic language based on discreet movements with the camera following the actors, but still giving them much space as possible to provide continuity of their acting, truth, and force, but also with retained emotion. Besides Victor Banerjee, who plays the lead and other known actors, lesser roles are played by extras chosen from residents of the village where we shot the film. Through experience of mixing of professional actors and nonprofessionals, I have gained throughout the filming of most of my preceding 16 feature films and this has always imparted to my films a truthful flavor. I also decided to keep intervention on the sets to an absolute minimum in order to keep as much as possible the authenticity of places that are already by themselves visually very impressive. Dev Bhoomi is therefore a film with a simple dramatic structure, without many external effects, an intimate poem, like the sound of the ancient flute that accompanies Raoul, my main character, on his last journey to Khedarnath temple, a holy place where, so they say, every Hindu must visit at least once in his lifetime. Like the style of naïve paintings with their bright colors and folk motifs, the complexity of Indian society appears in the background, especially the society of the mountainous rural areas, away from the bustle of big cities that we have already seen in the majority of films made in India. An intimate poem, like the sound of the ancient flute that accompanies Rahul on his last journey to a holy place Goran Paskaljevic Writer and Director
NOVA FILM ZEPTER INTERNATIONAL AND GORVIC PICTURES WITH THE SUPPORT OF FILM CENTER SERBIA AND RADIO TELEVISION OF SERBIA PRESENT VICTOR BANERJEE IN A FILM BY GORAN PASKALJEVIC VICTOR BANERJEE GEETANJALI THAPA RAJ ZUTSHI UTTARA BAOKAR V.D. SHARMA AVIJIT DUTT S.P. MAMGAIN AMBAR KANT PRIYA SHARMA AND SOHAILA KAPUR ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY GORAN PASKALJEVIC AND VICTOR BANERJEE DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY MILAN SPASIC ART DIRECTOR SATADAL MITRA COSTUME DESIGNER NEETI JAIN EDITOR KRISTINA POZENEL EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS GOBINDO J.C. ROY AND JELICA ROSANDIC PRODUCED BY GORAN PASKALJEVIC COPRODUCED BY PHILIP AND MADELEINE ZEPTER DIRECTED BY GORAN PASKALJEVIC 2016 NOVA FILM - ZEPTER INTERNATIONAL - GORVIC PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Contact: Marina Fuentes marina.fuentes@cinestaanfilmcompany.com +34 630 011 329 C INTERNATIONAL SALES 6th Floor 14 Bonhill Street London EC2A 4BX United Kingdom www.cinestaanfilmcompany.com