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Dr.S.Krishnaswamy Writes and Directs Documentary Films
and TV Serials. In June 2005, the US International Film
& Video Festival, Los Angeles, conferred on him its
prestigious “LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD”
– making him the ninth recipient of this award over
four decades of the festival, and the first from the Afro
Asian continents to be so honored. In addition to Four
National Awards for his short films, the other important
awards he has won include the “HONOUR SUMMUS AWARD”
conferred by The Watumull Foundation, Honolulu, for his
“film making with a sense of social commitment,
combining technical skill with creative finesse”
;
Dr.Krishnaswamy’s non-fiction films have covered
wide ground - political issues, biographies, corporate
& PR films, tourism, spiritual themes. His 1998
documentary “INDIA 5555” was chosen by the
White House and screened for President Bill Clinton
as part of his orientation to visit India. Earlier,
his 4-hour documentary on Indian history, “INDUS
VALLEY TO INDIRA GANDHI”, distributed by Warner
Brothers, hit the headlines with much acclaim, in 1976.
The Tamil TV Serial, VISAALAM, written by Dr.S.Krishnaswamy,
won the Mylapore Academy Award for the best TV story
of 2002-03. The TV Serials directed by him include the
novel “CHINNA KUYILI” (voted the most popular
Tamil TV serial of Singapore in 1997) ; the dance production
“SAVITRI” about which the BBC World Review
said, “SAVITRI with Tamil lyrics by Dr S Krishnaswamy,
choreographed and performed by Lata & Gita, receives
all our felicitations for being on a new level of joyful
experience for the Tamil language and arts” ;
“UPASANA” (Hindi costume drama) based on
the ancient Tamil twin-classics Silappadikaram &
Manimegalai; “NALLATHOR VEENAI” (Tamil novel);
the native Tamil Humour Classic “THUPPARIYUM SAMBU”.
Krishnaswamy took his M.A. in Film & Television
from Columbia University, New York, in 1961, and later
earned his Ph.D. In 1964, he founded KRISHNASWAMY ASSOCIATES
(P) Ltd., which as a prestigious production banner celebrated
its 40th Anniversary in September 2004.
Dr. Krishnaswamy is co-author with Erik Barnouw of
the renowned book “INDIAN FILM”, (Oxford
University Press). Over the years, he has addressed
organizations such as the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles; the Woodrow Wilson Center
for International Scholars, and The Washington Institute
for Values, at the US capital; the International Documentary
Symposium in USSR; the International Institute of Communications
at Strasbourg, France; the International Institute of
Audiovisual Media In Historical Research, at Gottingen,
Germany.
Dr. Krishnaswamy has been, Secretary of the Jury for
the International Film Festival of India; Chairman of
the Jury for National Awards for Non-feature films for
two terms; Chairman of AMIC’s Asian Conference
on “Film as Communication” at Cheingmai,
Thailand; Chairman of the Task Force on Culture, Tamilnadu
State Planning Commission. He is a Founder and now Managing
Trustee of The Catalyst Trust, a Social Activist Group.
Dr. Krishnaswamy is the son of Indian film pioneer
and freedom fighter, “Director” K. Subrahmanyam,
in whose honor, the Government of India released a Postal
Stamp during his Birth Centenary celebrations in 2004.
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