Paul Zils

Paul Zils (18 June 1915 – 30 March 1979) was a German-Indian documentary filmmaker who played a major role in the development of the Indian documentary filmmaking movement.

Career
Early in his career, Zils reportedly worked for UFA, before leaving Germany. During World War II, he was interned in a POW camp as a German national in Bali and then brought to India where he was interned in Bihar. In 1946, Zils reportedly first began working in India as director of the external unit of the Information Films of India and then for a dozen of years after independence, working both for the new Indian government and for international institutions and multinationals, shuch as Shell Film Unit. For example, Zils worked for the documentary unit of the United Nations to produce films acquired by the Government of India for widespread distribution using mobile projectors, such as Kurvandi Road and A Tiny Thing Brings Death. He made films in the Major Industries, Life in India, and Folk Dances series for Burmah-Shell Oil. Zils established the independent production company, Art Films of India.

Zils sponsored the publication of a quarterly magazine, Indian Documentary, and contributed regularly to the leading art journal of the era, MARG. He also provided training to a number of associates and colleagues who went on to become noted filmmakers themselves, such as Fali Balimoria whose The House That Ananda Built was the first Indian documentary to be nominated for the Oscars. In 1958, he returned to West Germany and made flms under the Deutsche Condor Films lavel and later made films in Sri Lanka.

He became a naturalised Indian citizen during the 1950s during his time in India where he was based in Bombay.

Filmography
=== Directed and/or Produced by Him ===
 * 1975: For a Better Tomorrow
 * 1970: Time and the Nation
 * 1968: Meditation
 * 1964: Glaube und Leben der Hindus
 * 1963: Alles in Fluß (Kurz-Dokumentarfilm)
 * 1963: Buddhismus in Ceylon
 * 1961: Jalagon--Ein Dorf im Ikken Indien
 * 1958: The Vanishing Tribe
 * 1958: Oraons of Bihar
 * 1958: In Your Hands, Family Planning Association of India, director Fali Balimoria
 * 1958: Worship Dances of Malabar, part of the Folk Dances series
 * 1957: Martial Dances of Malabar, part of the Folk Dances series
 * 1957: New Life of a Displaced Person
 * 1957: Maa, the Story of an Unmarried Person
 * 1957: Fifty Miles from Poona
 * 1957: A Family in Bangalore, part of the Life in India series
 * 1957: Fisherfolk of Bombay
 * 1956: Growing Coconuts, in the 1956 Cannes short film competition
 * 1956: The School
 * 1956: Iron and Steel
 * 1956: The Ripening Seed
 * 1955: Textiles
 * 1955: Agriculture
 * 1954: Ujala
 * 1952: Shabash
 * 1952: Zalzala
 * 1950: Our India
 * 1950: Hindustan Hamara
 * 1949: Two Worlds
 * 1949: White Magic
 * 1949: A Tiny Thing Brings Death
 * 1949: The Last Jewel
 * 1949: General Motors in India
 * 1948: Kurvandi Road
 * 1947: Child
 * 1948: Mother-Child-Community
 * 1947: India's Struggle for National Shipping
 * 1947: Community
 * 1945: Bombay, the Story of Seven Isles

As Second Unit Director

 * 1937: Fanny Elssler
 * 1937: Sieben Ohrfeigen
 * 1936: Glückskinder