Global cinematic entanglements: Indo-German migrations

Global cinematic entanglements, Indo-German migrations (Dr Eleanor Halsall, King’s College, London).

Eleanor Halsall’s doctoral research charts the involvement of German filmmakers in India from 1925 to 1939. Tracking the development of sound cinema in Bombay, the study considers a partnership between Indian producer Himansu Rai and German director Franz Osten that shaped the Bombay Talkies, one of India’s major 1930s film studios. 

This subproject augments her Rai/Osten study with additional research that considers traffic in the reverse direction (from India to Germany), exploring in particular the involvement in Germany of Indian film producer, Mohan Bhavnani, and the latter’s contacts with Jewish critic Willy Haas. Eleanor is using new archival research to explore what Bhavnani’s case reveals about Indo-German cinematic relations within the globally entangled context of the Weimar industry.

Shiraz / das Grabmal einer grossen Liebe – Franz Osten, 1928