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The
Indian Diaspora Film Festival '04
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Born in Bombay, India, Ismail
Merchant has lived and worked in Europe and the
United States for most of his life. In 1961, one year after
earning his MBA from NYU's Leonard N. Stern School of Business,
Merchant produced his fIrst film, a theatrical short, which
was nominated for an Academy Award and was an official entry
at the Cannes Film Festival.
While en route to the Festival, Merchant
met James Ivory, who agreed to form Merchant Ivory Productions
in order to make English-language theatrical features in India
for the international market. Merchant
Ivory Productions has endured as one of the most
productive collaborations in cinema, bringing forth such films
as Shakespeare Wallah, A Room with
a View, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, Howards End, The Remains of the
Day, and Jefferson in Paris. The American release
of The Golden Bowl in April of2001 marked the 40th anniversary
of Merchant's career in film
production, one that has already earned the Merchant Ivory team
a place in The Guinness Book
of World Records for the longest partnership in independent
cinema. The company's latest film,
Le Divorce, was released in 2003. They are currently in post-production
on the film Heights, set
in New York City, with a young director, Chris Terrio. In addition
to producing all of James Ivory's features and documentaries
since 1963. |
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Merchant has directed a number of films and two television features
The first feature film he directed,
In Custody, went on to win
National Awards from the Government of India for Best Picture,
Best Actor, Best Costume, and Best Production Design. The
Mystic Masseur, Merchant's
latest work as a director, was released
in the spring of 2002 and won the Best Screenplay award at the
Mar del Plata film festival in Argentina. He will next direct
Tina Turner in The Goddess, set in India and based on an original
screenplay by Suketu Mehta. Merchant
is a renowned chef and the author of a number of books on cuisine,
including Ismail Merchant s Indian Cuisine, Ismail Merchant s
Passionate Meals, and Ismail Merchant's Paris: Filming and Feasting
in France.
His most recent autobiographical book is entitled, My Passage
From India: A Filmmaker's Journey from Bombay to Hollywood and
Beyond. In addition to the multitude of accolades Merchant
has won in the world
of film and literature, he is also an Honorary Doctor of Arts
at Bard College and Wesleyan College at
University of Illinois.
He has been honored by the Mayor of New York and the Maire de
Paris, and he received the title of Commandeur de 1 Ordre des
Arts et des Lettres from the Ministry of Culture in France for
his outstanding contribution to cinema. In 2002, the government
of India bestowed upon Merchant
the Padma Bhusan, the equivalent of a British knighthood, and
in 2003 he was made an honorary fellow of the British Academy
of Film and Television Arts. Merchant
has also received a distinguished alumni award from his alma mater,
The Stern School of Business at New York University .
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