Modhura Palit
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Modhura Palit (ISC) is an Indian cinematographer and director. She is the first Indian to receive the Cannes Film Festival's Pierre Angénieux ExcelLens award.
Career
Palit studied cinematography at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. She is a member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers, Indian Women Cinematographers Collective, the Eastern India Cinematographers Association, and the Busan Asian Film Academy. She participated in the Looking China Youth Film Project in 2015. She was a part of Berlinale Talents 2023 for the Berlin International Film Festival. She was also on the board for the ImagineIndia International Film Festival Madrid. She was the recipient of the Shera Bangali Award for Cinema in 2024, presented by ABP Ananda.
Palit has worked on multiple feature films, web series, and other visual mediums. Her work includes films that have been both critically and commercially acclaimed. She is known for her visual work in films like Ami O Manohar, Bahadur-the Brave, Amar Colony, Tekka, Kishmish, and others. She was the director of photography for the Netflix series Kurukshetra. She had also worked on one of India's first VR projects, Black Wing, in 2018, an unreleased Indo-British production. Palit helped Watchmaker, an experimental feature film. She made her directorial debut with the episode "Troilokyo" in the Zee5 web series Ganoshotru, receiving critical and popular acclaim.
Palit advocates for the inclusion of women in the technical field of filmmaking, and serves as an academic counselling member at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute as an alumna.
Awards
Palit was awarded the Pierre Angénieux ExcelLens in Cinematography (Special Encouragement Award for Promising Cinematographer) at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, making her the first Indian to win the award. She received the award alongside cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, who received the lifetime achievement award for cinematography. With this award, she is one of the only three Indians who have received technical awards at Cannes, alongside V. Santaram and Santosh Sivan.
She won the Best Debut Director Award at the Kerala International Film Festival in 2018 for her work on Ami O Manohar, and received the Sera Bengali Award by ABP Ananda for her contribution to cinema in 2024.
Bahadur - the Brave won the New Directors category at San Sebastián International Film Festival, the first Indian film to win this award, and the Silver Gateway Award at Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival 2023.
Amar Colony won the Special Jury award at PÖFF Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2022 and Best Debut Director Award at Kerala International Film festival 2022
Ek Duaa won a special mention award at the National Film Awards in 2023.
She has received PESGSPC" Honorary Membership for the Outstanding Contribution to International Art Photography by the Cyprus Pascal English School and Greek School Photography Club, and the PESGSPC Grand Progress Award "GPA - By FIAP (Fédération Internationale de l'Art Photographique).
Filmography
| Year | Film | Director | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Ami O Manohar | Amitabha Chatterjee | |
| Watchmaker | Anindya Pulak Chatterjee | ||
| 2020 | Mukhosh | Arghadeep Chatterjee | |
| Naxalbari | Partho Mitra | ||
| 2021 | Ek Duaa | Ram Kamal Mukherjee | |
| 2022 | Kishmish | Rahool Mukherjee | |
| Sahobashe | Anjan Kanjilal | ||
| Kacher Manush | Pathikrit Basu | ||
| Kothamrito | Jiit Chakraborty | ||
| Amar Colony | Siddharth Chauhan | ||
| 2023 | Dilkhush | Rahool Mukherjee | |
| Cheeni 2 | Mainak Bhaumik | ||
| 2024 | Dadur Kirti | Rahool Mukherjee | |
| Dabaru | Pathikrit Basu | ||
| Bahadur: The Brave | Diwa Shah | ||
| Tekka | Srijit Mukherji | ||
| Junior | Rahool Mukherjee | ||
| Lohu | Rahool Mukherjee | ||
| Debi | Rahool Mukherjee | ||
| 2025 | Yakshi | Karan Sunil | |
| Drusht | Aditya Chauhan | ||
| Lalaat | Jaivi Dhanda | ||
| Kurukshetra (Animation Series) | Ujaan Ganguly | ||
| Ganoshotru (Troilokyo) | Modhura Palit | ||
| 2026 | Mon Maaney Na | Rahool Mukherjee | |
| Khadaan | Visvesh Singh Sehrawat |
References
- ↑ "Highlights from the 20th edition of ABP Ananda Sera Bangali Awards". t2online.in. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
- ↑ www.imdb.com https://www.imdb.com/title/tt38235589/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_cst_sm. Retrieved 7 May 2026.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ "Depth of field". The Indian Express. 23 June 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2026.
- ↑ "Modhura Palit On Breaking Cinematography's Glass Ceiling | Women's Day Special". Outlook India. 7 March 2025. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
- ↑ "acmember Archives - Page 3 of 3". Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute. 28 January 2025. Retrieved 9 January 2026.
- ↑ "Cinematographer Modhura Palit on being the first Indian to receive the Angenieux award at Cannes". Firstpost. 31 March 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
- ↑ Joshi, Namrata (25 May 2019). "At Cannes, Modhura Palit gets India its moment in the sun". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
- ↑ "Cannes Film Festival: Only THREE Indians Ever Have Won Technical Awards; Know ALL About Them". Times Now. 13 May 2025. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
- ↑ MBDesk (21 November 2024). "ABP Ananda celebrates 20th anniversary of 'Sera Bangali' by honoring trailblazing women › Mediabrief.com". Retrieved 12 February 2026.
- ↑ "San Sebastián International Film Festival", Wikipedia, 3 June 2026, retrieved 20 June 2026
- ↑ "Siddharth Chauhan's Amar Colony wins special jury prize at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival". The Indian Express. 27 November 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2026.
- ↑ "MODHURA PALIT". Indian Women Cinematographer Collective. Retrieved 21 July 2026.
Modhura Palit (ISC) is an Indian cinematographer. She is the first Indian to receive the Pierre Angénieux ExcelLens award at Cannes. She studied cinematography from Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI). Member of the Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC), Indian Women Cinematographers Collective (IWCC) as well as of the Eastern India Cinematographers Association (EICA), she is part of the Busan Asian Film Academy (AFA), and she took part in the Looking China Youth Film Project in 2015. She was part of Berlinale Talents 2023 under Berlin International Film Festival. She has received PESGSPC" Honorary Membership for the Outstanding Contribution to International Art Photography by Cyprus Pascal English School and Greek School Photography Club and the PESGSPC Grand Progress Award "GPA – By FIAP (Fédération Internationale de l'Art Photographique). She was also in board of Jury in ImagineIndia International Film Festival Madrid. Modhura is also the recipient of the prestigious Shera Bangali Award for Cinema in 2024, presented by ABP Ananda.
- ↑ Sarkar, Roushni. "Mukhosh teaser: Atmospheric look determines its genre". Cinestaan. Archived from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ↑ "Snapshots from the mahurat of romcom Kishmish". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
- ↑ Indiablooms (16 February 2021). "Anubhav Kanjilal, Ishaa Saha starrer Sahobashe's trailer released | Indiablooms - First Portal on Digital News Management". Indiablooms.com. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ↑ "Director Rahool Mukherjee ready with another tale of love, 'Dilkhush'". The Optimist. 20 June 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
- ↑ K, Gowsalya (5 December 2023). "Srijit Mukherji and Dev Join Forces for Thrilling Bengali Film 'Tekka'". Today Breaking News, India, World, Business, Entertainment, Sports Today Breaking News, India, World, Business, Entertainment, Sports. Retrieved 8 December 2023.