Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI)

36 years of experience in the field of Fine arts and Animation Media. He received a MDes. in Animation film design from NID. He started directing 2D Animation for the Indian Artists
Chennai. Directed the company in VFX for Television and Feature films in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu. He was a founder member and Director layout for Millitoon animation PVT. Ltd. which won a BAFTA for the best Animation series. Animated for Toon Disney in Bangalore. He was the Creative director handled the Pre-production team of Maya Entertainment limited in Mumbai. Handled projects in Game Art, Pilots, T.V. Series for Tigarhare, Visionscape, Sony PSP, BBC cartoons and EA games. Taken up academics as the Creative Head of Aptech’s Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics and had started their train the trainers programme in India and abroad. He was part of the Indian Delegation of Animators to get trained by HRD wing of Govt. of Japan in Manga and
Anime production and techniques. He was Part of the award winning team of North American Film awards 2017.

Graduate in Bachelor of Science (physiology) from Kolkata University and a Post Graduate Diploma in animation film design from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad India. He has more than 20 years of experience in Computer Graphics, 2D & 3D Animation, Game Design and Visual FX for Feature Films & Television. Started his career as a Senior Visualizer and then subsequently been the Creative Director & Visual FX Supervisior with a leading Animatiion Studio in Mumbai, India. He has creatively supervised animation and visual FX production for various international DVD features, game cinematics and animated television kids series for Studios like Nickelodeon UK, BBC-1 UK, Tiger-Hare Studios USA, Electronic Arts Inc, Walt Disney, Visionscape International USA, Rag-doll UK and Brown Bag UK.

Studied Graphic Art at Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan. After a brief stint in television with Television 18 India Ltd he went on to do his Masters in Graphic Art from M.S. University of Baroda, where he taught for a year after graduating. He joined Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in 1999. He further studied Animation Film Production at DeAnza College, California, USA, while working at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. He has written, produced and directed two independent short animation films.

An alumni of FTII Pune Samiran Datta has got 18 years of work experience that includes ten feature films to his credit as DOP along with several Documentary, ADfilms etc. Films shot by him have been showcased in leading international film festivals including Venice, Rotterdam, Moscow and Chicago. Four films shot by Samiran has bagged national awards as best film in India and Bangladesh. His nonfiction work has been showcased in BBC, NGC, CNN and YLE Thema. ‘Meherjaan’ a fiction feature on Bangladesh war of independence has won him best cinematography award in Hobocan International film festival, USA. The same film has also bagged accolade award for excellence[USA] for best cinematography.Beyond Cinema and Cinematography Samiran has a keen interest in new media art.

MA in English literature from Calcutta University; Post Graduate Diploma in MPP from FTII, Pune

Directed and shot documentary and educational films that have been critically acclaimed. Worked as cinematographer for Ad films, and experimental shorts.

UGC CEC award for a 4 episode educational film called Koodiyattom –surviving change; recognized as a screen entrepreneur, by the British Council; Her latest documentary film Draupadi’s Descendants has screened at international festivals. Has closely been associated with the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, which organizes both the IFFK and IDSFF festivals.

Teaching experience: Served as a faculty at Roop Kala Kendra – an institute of social communication under the West Bengal Govt; served as fac­ulty at FTll Pune, and C-Dit, Thiruvananthapuram.

He is a Mechanical Engineer from llT Bombay and a graduate in Cinematography from SRFTI.

While studying Cinematography at SRFTI, Hitesh was selected as a student participant for the coveted, ‘5th VGIK International Summer School’ (2013) on Documentary film making at the Russian State University of Cinematography (VGIK), the oldest film institute in the world. His short documentary, ‘My Russian Diary’ won ‘Best Film’ award of the summer school. He has been working in the Mumbai film industry and has shot Ad films and short films. He has been a part of the Camera team for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus, & ’Bajirao Mastani’. Apart from shooting films as a Cinematogra­pher, Hitesh also writes and directs short films and does Street Photography with his Celluloid still camera.

His short films have been selected for inter­national festivals across the globe in the countries like Turkey, Italy, Uruguay and Spain and have won awards.

Anirban Datta left pursuing Physics after graduation to become a full-time screenwriter. In this period, he worked for several regional and national projects as a professional script & screenwriter. He did his PG Diploma in Cinema from Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata in Direction and Screenplay Writing (2001-2004). Here is my Nocturne (2004) His institute documentary film was premiered in Indian panorama, IFFI Goa, 2005 and travelled to major Indian festival. it was also exhibited at Helsinki City Art Museum on Indian Pop Art & Culture, 2006; and at ISFVF, Beijing Film Academy 2006. Tetris (2006), his Diploma film premiered at Festival de Cannes’06 in Cinefondation competition and travelled to Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, 2006, ISFVF, Beijing Film Academy 2006, IFFK, Trivadrum 2006 and in IFF Rotterdam as part of a retrospective of Indian student films. After graduating from SRFTI he directed and produced several commissioned or internationally co-produced documentaries for international broadcasters of the likes of NHK Japan, YLE Finland, VPRO Netherlands, and Doordarshan, India. The projects were pitched at IDFA Forum, Docedge Asian forum Kolkata, Changing India – Steps for the Future International Pitching Workshop, Goa; received important grants & funds like Jan Vrijman Fund (production) given by IDFA (received twice), Sundance Documentary Fund, PSBT-Films Division Fellowship Grant, PSBT-Doordarshan Fellowship Grant. The Films travelled over two hundred international festivals, received numerous national and international awards and recognitions including three Rajat Kamal – Indian National Film Awards. Bhultir Khero / Chronicle of an Amnesiac (2007) a film commissioned by NHK Japan (TV2); Nokia Award for Best Developed Project, Docedge’ Kolkata’05; Rajat Kamal (Spacial Jury Award), 55th Indian National Film Awards,’09; Nominated for Ogawa Shinsuke Prize, YDIFF’09, Yamagata, Japan; John Abraham National Award for Best Documentary, SIGNS’07 Trivandrum, in for motion (2008) a co-production with Steps India, YLE (Finland) and Jan Vrijman Fund; World Premier, IDFA 2008, Amsterdam, (in competition),Rajat Kamal (Best Film on Environment) 57th National Film Awards’09; Inaugural film (Non feature), Indian Panorama, IFFI’09, Goa, India; IDPA Silver Award for Best Documentary’08, Mumbai; Special Mention Jury Award, 2nd IDSFFK, Trivandrum; SIGNS’09, Trivandrum; EcoFilms’09 Rhodos, Greece; Asiatica Filmmediale’09, Rome; 54th Dok-Leipzig 2011. BOM/ One Day Ahead of Democracy (2011): World Premier, IDFA 2011, Amsterdam; Rajat Kamal, 59th National Film Awards 2011; Grand Prize, Pärnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival 2012; Special Mention Jury Award, MIFF’12, Mumbai, India; John Abraham National Award, Cinema of Resistance, SIGNS’12 Trivandrum, India; Wasted (2012): A PSBT-Films Division Fellowship Film; Special Jury Award, John Abraham National Award, *SIGNS’12; Inaugural film, Shahernama Film Festival’14, Mumbai; Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2014-15, Artist’s Cinema section; Bangladesh Short Film Festival, Dhaka’12; Astra Film Festival’13, Romania; Open Frame’14, Delhi; Urban Lens’14 Bangalore; VIBGYOR International film festival 2015, Trissur, India. Kalikshetra (52min, doc, HD 2018)Writer/Director: A PSBT-Doordarshan Fellowship Film for telecast in Doordarshan; Closing Film, Kolkata Peoples Film Festival 2018; SIGNS2019 Kochi India; Bangladesh Sort & Documentary Film Festival Dhaka 2019; Urban Lens Bangalore 2018; Open Frame Delhi 2019.

How film practice that can create an active dialogue with academic possibilities on a formal and pedagogic level is a subject of Anirban’s passion & preoccupation. A two-way dialogue can create enriched outcomes both for pedagogy as well as practice. He held faculty position at Film Direction & Screenplay Dept., Film & Television Institute of India (FTII) Pune as Associate Professor (2019-20), and Asst. Professor (2012-13). He had a brief stint as Associate Professor at Script writing and Direction Dept., K R Narayanan National Institute for Visual Science & Arts, Kerala in 2017. He has conducted filmmaking workshops for various institutes and universities of repute like National Institute of Design (NID) Ahmedabad,Ashoka University (Young India Fellowship Program),Sri Aurobindo Centre for Art and Communication (SACAC) Creative Documentary Program, Maharashtra Institute Technology (documentary Workshop), Jindal Global University to name a few. He also conducted country’s first ever workshop on filmmaking with Smart Phones for SKIFT (a Skill india initiative of FTII Pune) supported by the Indian Army at Baramulla, J&K. He was invited as international mentor for Dhaka Doclab at Rajshahi, Bangladesh. He has served as a jury member, non-feature films section, for 56th Indian National Film Awards 2008; member of Jury committee, National Students Film Award NSFA, FTII Pune 2012; Wular Lake International Short Film Festival Baramulla J & K India for years 2018 and 2019; 13th IIUSFF, Dhaka University.

Putul Mahmood, an alumna of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), is a filmmaker, producer and teacher.

She is the Producer of the Indie Bengali feature film Cosmic Sex directed by Amitabh Chakraborty. The film premiered at the Osian’s CineFan Festival of Arab and Asian Cinema where it won the Best Actress Award and was widely distributed across international online platforms as well as having a theatrical release in Bengal.

She has directed several short fiction and documentary films including You Who Never Arrived featuring Irrfan Khan and Geetanjali Kulkarni, Man of Silence- Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, I Shoot U, Atasi, Three Sisters and Kajal. Atasi won the Best Film Silver Conch (under 60 mins category) at MIFF 2020.

Three Sisters won the National Award for the Best Film on Social Issues at the 68^th National Awards.

Putul Mahmood also works as a Script Consultant on short fiction and feature films- Serious Men on Netflix starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, is one of her recent works in that capacity. Serious Men won the Best Film Award at the Filmfare 2021 online Awards and was nominated to the Emmy Awards in the Best Actor Category.

Putul has designed and been the Course Director of Docurama a three week long residential Documentary Workshop and Appreciation course, the first of its kind, in collaboration with Siddhartha Kak and the IDC department of IIT Powai.

Putul Mahmood has worked as an Executive Producer and Commissioning Editor for Chakra Channel. She has directed 86 episodes of Renditions, an Indian Classical Music based series.

Putul Mahmood is one of the co-authors of Shift Focus – Women Shaping The Narrative In Media and Entertainment; commissioned by Women In Cinema Collective (WCC) and the US Consulate in Chennai. This is a Report that describes the prevailing working conditions of women cine workers in the South Indian film Industry and proposes steps to be taken to make them more gender-sensitive and gender just.’

An alumnus of SRFTI (2000), Tridib had taught in the Dept. of Mass Communication & Videography, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata for 4 years before join­ing SRFTI in 2011. He has been associated with KIIT. Bhubaneswar and D J Academy, Coimbatore as a visiting faculty. While freelancing he worked both in fiction & non-fiction. His first independent short fiction film Sahore (In The City, 2005). participated in many festivals including Toronto International Film Festival (2006). Kolkata Film Festival (Indian Select section. 2005). His diploma film Khoj (In Search) made in SRFTI in 2000 was the first Indian film to get an Official Selection (In Competi­tion) in the Cinefondation section of Cannes Film Festival (2002). It also won the Best First Film of a Director Award (IDPA) in Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF. 2004) and Best Director (Short Film) by Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Award (BFJA , 2002).

An alumnus of FTII Pune, Ranajit Gharai has 15 years of work experience as an Art Director/ Production Designer.

He has done several feature films in this capacity. Ranajit has worked in the Production Design team of “Ek Nadir Golpo”. This film was India’s entry for the Asian, African & Latin American Competition segment of the 38th International Film Festival of India, held in Goa 2007. “Udedh Bun” won Silver Bear in 2008 at 58th Berlin International Film Festival 2008 and National Film Award for best short fiction film 2008. Rong Kuchak won National Film Award for best short film in 2014.

“MEAL” was screened at Cannes Film Festival and got the Dada Saheb Falke award.

Ranajit has designed for many advertisement such as Amazon, Ambuja Cement, Ozone, Wedding Collection from P.C. Chandra Jewllers and has done Art Direction for 50 short films.

Tangella Madhavi is an award winning independent documentary filmmaker. She has made films for PSBT, Films Division, Majlis, Metropolis-VPRO Netherlands and NHK Japan.

She has also taught documentary film making at Sophia Polytechnic and been a documentary mentor for ldocs(Documentary Resource Initiative), Documentor (Imphal ) and was on the selection committee for International Documentary for Mumbai International Film Festival, 2015.

An alumni of SRFTI, Asian Film Academy, Mumbai University and Sophia Polytechnic , Tangella Madhavi’s core area of interests are research, Indian documentaries, and writing.

Sounak is an alumni of Direction and Screenplay writing department in Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata. Apart from directing and writing, he works occasionally as a cinematographer, editor and sound designer. He has also worked as a teacher in short courses conducted by FTI, Itanagar.

He has been making movies and videos since the age of thirteen. He loves exploring different cultures and has made films in various languages like Bengali, English, Hindi, Nepali, Nyishi, Galo, Apatani and Mandarin. His SRFTI diploma film, “Sex with a monk and other stories” got screened at several major festivals of India and won the Audience Choice Award at Contact International Students Film Festival of Izmir, Turkey in 2017.

In 2014, he directed two short segments for the “World from dawn to dusk: Kolkata” project as part of a workshop conducted by the National film school, Lodz, Poland. In 2015, he participated in the ‘Looking China’ project organized by AICCC, China and made a short documentary in Guiyang called Zhenshan (Eng: Half Mountain) as part of the project. He worked as cinematographer and editor for the documentary, “Slave garden” (Aka: High tea) directed by Abhra Aich) which received the IDFA Bertha Fund for development in 2017. It was also selected for pitching at Doc Lisboa and Doc Incheon. In 2019, he wrote, directed, shot and edited a Galo language feature film called Bird Thief – a regional film made in collaboration with the people of the Galo tribe in Basar, Arunachal Pradesh. It was exhibited locally in several community halls across the state. In 2020, he wrote and directed a commercial Bengali comedy web series called “Fish and Chips”.

Holder of Post Graduate Diploma in Editing from SRFTI,Kolkata. Worked as the chief editor with a number of well-known directors, in projects commissioned by National and International television chan­nels and foundations. He has received National Awards 2007 (best editing non-feature)- ‘Hope Dies Last in War’ IDPA 2008 (Gold Award for best editing short fiction)- ‘Dhin Tak Dha’ IDPA 2009 (Gold Award for best editing, documentary)-Many Stories of Love & Hate. Films that he edited got National Award for Best Film (Non-feature) 2007 -’Hope Dies Last in War’ ,National Award for Best Film (Social Issues) 2010 – ‘Understanding Trafficking Cinema Du Reel Grand Prix. 2013 -’ Shunte Ki Pao/ Are You Listening’ Golden Conch at MIFF. 2014, Special Jury Award. Film South Asia , 2013.

Taught briefly at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune in 2006 as a faculty in the Film Editing Department. Taught at St. Xavier’s Col­lege as a lecturer in the Mass Communication and Videography Depart­ment from 2009-2011.

Sankhajit Biswas has studied Film Editing at SRFTI (2002-05). He has participated at the Berlinale Talent Campus 2010. He has edited many films, both fiction and documentary format, that have been screened and awarded at major international film festivals including Berlin, Toronto, Moscow, BFI London, Goteborg, IDFA, DokLeipzig, Busan, Hong Kong, Asia Pacific Screen Award, Museum of Modern Arts (MOMA) New York, Film Southasia, IFFI Goa, Jio MAMI, IFF Kerala and many more.

Eight of his edited films have won National Film Awards of India and twelve have been selected for Indian Panorama including two as Opening Films. He has also edited films from Malaysia, Nepal and Bangladesh with renowned directors.

‘Dui Dhuranir Golpo / In-between Days’ (2012), his debut documentary as director, has been screened at CPH:DOX (Denmark), Yamagata (Japan) and DocPoint Helsinki (Finland); and won ‘Best Documentary Award’ at Kolkata International Film Festival 2014.

‘The Wind in the Maruwa Field’ (2016), produced by Films Division, Govt. of India was selected for the prestigious Indian Panorama and screened at IFFI Goa.

‘Hridoy Bosot’ / ‘A Home for My Heart’ (2022), his first feature length documentary was screened at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, IDSFF Kerala, Liberation Doc Fest, Dhaka and won Jury’s Special Mention at Signs Film Festival, Kerala.

Professor Prasenjit Ghosh holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Direction and Screenplay from the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India ( FTII). He has worked as the Head of the Production Department of SRFTI for 14 years before shifting to core academics. He has also been entrusted in 2022 as the Nodal Officer on behalf of SRFTI overseeing the new institute NEFTI currently being set up at Arunachal Pradesh.

He is one of the founding members of the Producing Programme in SRFTI and currently heads the Producing Course. He is on the Board of Studies of several institutions viz. KIIT ,Bhubaneswar and Chandigarh University , Punjab.

Before joining SRFTI Professor Ghosh has worked as assistant director on an Indo Italian production ” In the Twelfth Night ” and was also the Production Liaison Officer for a German Film ” Shadow of Time ” . The ” Swing ” , a short film directed by him was selected in the 7th Short Film Festival , Dhaka. The film ” Galpokalpana ” directed by him and produced by SRFTI was selected in the Kolkata Film Festival. He was also commissioned by Doordarshan to direct a documentary on the Jnanpith Award winning poet Sri Subhas Mukhopadhyay ” Tar Par Jete Jete “, which remains one of the comprehensive works on the life of the poet till today.

Professor Ghosh supervised the student exchange programme with HHF Potsdam, Germany

He was also invited as a jury and guest lecturer organized by AIB , Bonn for the Study Abroad programme of the Loyola Marymount University, USA.

He has also been invited on numerous occasions as a member of the accreditation team for the media courses offered in the colleges affiliated to MAKAUT , West Bengal .

He has also acted in a feature film Megher Meye(Daughter of Cloud) directed by the well-known director and singer Mr Pallav Kirtonia which has been shown in several prestigious film festivals and was released subsequently commercially.

During his stint as the HOD of Producing for Film & Television, he has supervised the making of around 80 student diploma films , 80 short films , innumerable Ad films, promos , playback and Mis -en – scene exercises and Student workshops . Several of these films got selected in Cinefondation Cannes, International Short Film Festival Oberhousen, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, Mumbai Short International Film Festivals, IFFI etc. and won several National and international awards.

He received the National Award (67th ceremony) as the producer of the film ” Oru Paathiraa Swapna Pole ” , on behalf of SRFTI, in the category of Best Film on Family Values.

Post Graduate Diploma In Direction and Screenplay Writing From Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute Of India(SRFTI)

Established and Co-owned 2 production houses Eyewash & Fisheye and produced
(creative + execution) number of shows/Documentaries and short films.
Line produced for Colescium, BBC, Miditech, Wizcraft , Big Synergy etc.
Looked after Business (East) for Big Synergy
Executive Producer in Star India Pvt.Ltd.

Produced/co-produced 3 short films :
1) Yati (entry to Kolkata International Film Festival) – Bengali (approx. 10 mins)
2) Mano Ya Na Mano – English/Hindi (approx. 37 mins)
Mintgumri ( Entry to Reykjavik International Film Festival and Dharamsala International Film Festival) – Punjabi (approx.. 22 mins)
Directed a feature film in Bengali “ Tomar Jonno”, produced by Zee Motion Pictures
Directed short documentary ‘Maya Bazaar’ . It was selected in the competitive section of Miff ( Mumbai International Film Festival). Worked as an ‘assistant director’(Indian part of the production) in the film ‘Brick Lane’ directed by the Internationally acclaimed British/Irish film maker ‘Sarah Gavron’

Post production assistant director for the short film ‘The Legend Of Fat Mamma’. It was made for BBC World. The film is a documentary on the Chinese community in India. It was directed by Shri Rafiq Ilyas. The film won a National Award later on.Line produced fiction shows for Bangladesh Television
Former associate of award winning film maker Late Shri Rituporno Ghosh
Former creative executive with Black Magic Motion Pictures
Former creative executive with Graffiti (Production house based in Kolkata)

Sukanta Majumdar is a sound designer who specialises in field recording and sound design for films and theatre. A graduate of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute of India in Kolkata, he has worked with many renowned filmmakers at home and abroad.

Sukanta’s recent work includes a soundtrack for artist Moad Musbahi at the ongoing Singapore Biennale 2022
(https://www.singaporebiennale.org/artists/moad-musbahi), soundtracks for an exhibition, A Slightly Curving Place at HKW, Berlin in 2020. (https://www.hkw.de/en/programm/projekte/2020/a_slightly_curving_place/start.php), which travelled later to Alserkal, Dubai in 2021, and a soundtrack for a recently released album, Anthology of Exploratory Music from India. (https://unexplainedsoundsgroup.bandcamp.com/track/rites-of-labour) .

Among his recently completed film soundtracks are Cat Sticks (Ronny Sen, India; premiered at Slamdance 2019), Jole Dobe Na (Those Who Do Not Drown) by Naeem Mohaiemen, premiered at Yokohama Triennale 2020 and a few short films by Amit Dutta including If I go, where do I go? (2020) and The Scent of Earth (2021), Anynadin… (Another Day…) (2021) by Kamar Ahmad Simon, premiered at IDFA 2021, Nine Hills One Valley (2022) by Haobam Paban Kumar, A Home for My Heart (2022) by Sankhajit Biswas, Before Life After Death (2022) by Anshul Tiwari.

One of his recent publications includes an essay, Ways of Listening in the Volume 1 (A Slightly Curving Place, ed. Nida Ghouse, pp. 129-139) of the series An Archaeology of Listening by Archive Books. https://www.archivebooks.org/a-slightly-curving-place/

Pursued Post Graduate Diploma in Cinema with specialization in Audiography from SRFTI. Worked as a sound recordist / designer for 7 years in every form of Audio Visual format ranging from feature length to television commercials. He has done ‘Sound of Joy’ (Sound Designer), ‘Sachin – A Billion Dreams’; (Location sound recordist) ‘Guddi ki gun’, ‘Bollywood Diaries’ to name a few.