by Durga Velayudham
The period between 1950 and 1970 was the golden age of the Government Film Unit (GFU). The Government Film Unit, originally established in the Velona Complex, Moratuwa, was relocated to the present premises of the Ministry of Mass Media, Polhengoda, in the mid-1960s. By the late 1960s, however, the creative quality of the Government Film Unit had gradually declined. To address this, Paul Zils was recruited as a consultant in 1968 to restructure and modernise the unit. At that time, the Government Film Unit of Sri Lanka also received a grant from West Germany. Consequently, the latest Steinbach machines for sound management and editing were acquired and installed at the premises. The project was supervised by Paul Zils.
Paul Zils was a renowned documentary filmmaker who came to Sri Lanka from West Germany. He had a deep appreciation for Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan cinema. His name first appeared in the catalogue of documentaries produced by the Government Film Institute in the 1960s and 1970s. At the time, Paul Zils worked as an advisor to the Government Film Department and produced numerous documentaries in the country. Fond of Sri Lanka and Buddhist culture, he ultimately chose Sri Lanka as his home.
Born on 18 June 1915 in Düsseldorf, Germany, he began his career as a film production assistant at the UFA studio. He later recalled that his interest in film was sparked by an 8 mm movie camera his father had given him as a child. Early in his career, he also worked as an assistant in the film unit of Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels. After leaving UFA, Paul Zils travelled to countries such as Japan and the United States, producing documentaries. During World War II, the ship he was travelling on suffered an accident near Indonesia and the Bali Islands, and its passengers were rescued by a British vessel. Paul Zils and his group were taken to India, where he became a prisoner of war. Following his release at the end of the war, he remained in India for around 15 years, continuing to make documentaries.
Paul Zils’ Indian Life
While in a prison camp in India, he met the German Buddhist scholar Lama Anagarika Govinda. This encounter strongly influenced two of his later works. The camp also included several musicians and composers, and Paul Zils began organising musical performances there while honing his artistic and creative skills. Unlike other German detainees, he spoke fluent English and impressed the British with his talents, who then invited him to join the Information Films of India (IFI) after the war ended in 1945. Accepting the offer, he settled in Bombay as the head of the external department of the IFI under a contract with the British-Indian government.
After India gained independence, the IFI was closed, and many of his colleagues returned to their homelands, but Zils chose to remain. During his time in India, he produced more than 70 documentaries, as well as three feature films. His affection for India was so strong that he even obtained Indian citizenship. In 1959, he returned to Germany to join Deutsche Condor Film (Munich) and the Erlangen Film Institute, contributing to various German productions, before returning to Sri Lanka in 1963 for an important project.
Paul Zils’ Sri Lankan Life
The Institute for Film and Image in Science and Education (FWU) in Munich, a leading media institution, produces photographs and films for German schools. Paul Zils’ Deutsche Condor Film was tasked with creating a short film introducing Buddhism to German children. Drawing on his experiences in India, he recognised that no country offered a better setting to study Buddhism than Sri Lanka. He produced Buddhismus in Ceylon, a 21-minute, full-colour, 16 mm short documentary in German. Reggie Siriwardena contributed to the writing, and the film was structured into four segments: Buddhist life (the Bodhi pilgrimage, Anuradhapura, Kalutara, Vesak festival, funeral ceremonies), the weaknesses of Buddhist faith (divination, seeking help from other religions, Yak dance), the Buddhist monk (ordination ceremony, Kandy), and the purpose of Buddhist faith (meditation, Polonnaruwa, Kelaniya). These sections were interspersed with scenes of Colombo streets, scenic fields, and the fishing industry.
The Government Film Department, including the news director, took note of the creator of Buddhismus in Ceylon. Consequently, Paul Zils was recruited as an advisor to the department, a significant boon for Sinhala cinema. He became the mentor of many who would later become prominent in Sinhala filmmaking, including Tissa Abeysekara, Tissa Liyanasuriya, and M.D. Mahindapala. The founders of the Government Film Institute were Italians, invited by Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake. Consequently, the early documentaries of the Institute reflected the Italian neo-realist tradition, emphasising filming in natural settings and using non-professional actors.
Later, the British documentary filmmaker Ralph Keane joined the Government Film Institute, with Mr Lester James Peries as his assistant. This collaboration led to a fusion of Italian neo-realist and British classical documentary traditions in Sri Lankan cinema. Lester James Peries and others eventually left the Institute to produce Rekha, a film distinct from previous works and free from South Indian influences. This tradition had been established at the Institute during Zils’ tenure, with Pragnasoma Hettiarachchi as a pioneer. After Zils’ arrival, filmmakers such as Tissa Abeysekara, Ranjith Lal, Sugathapala Senarath Yapa, and Tissa Liyanasuriya transitioned from feature films to documentary filmmaking.
Tissa Abeysekara, influenced by Paul Zils, was particularly interested in integrating feature film elements into documentaries. He recalled: “Paul Zils was my teacher. I learned the process of meticulously planning a film from him. The reason why all my documentaries take a narrative form is because of his inspiration. He warned me against overusing that concept, but I applied it differently—to train myself to become a full-time feature film director.” Thus, just as Ralph Keene had mentored Lester James Peries, Paul Zils guided Tissa Abeysekara at the Government Film Department.
Paul Zils’ Documentary Films
Paul Zils often incorporated a short narrative in his films. Tissa Abeysekara, entering the industry in 1972, followed this approach, creating several semi-narrative documentaries. Zils believed that traditional documentaries rarely attracted audiences in Third World countries. He introduced storytelling into documentaries, using actors and actresses—a style he termed “feature documentaries.” He regarded Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali as an example of this tradition, which helped the film achieve recognition at the Cannes Film Festival.
Paul Zils’ first film for the Government Film Institute was Meditation (1968), a 25-minute, 35 mm colour documentary about a doctor observing life. It was written by Reggie Siriwardena, with music by W.D. Amaradeva and narration composed by Debas Tissa Liyanasuriya and delivered by Henry Jayasena. In 1970, he produced Time and The Nation, a 20-minute, 35 mm colour documentary featuring veteran actor Upali Attanayake, written by Tissa Abeysekara with music by Premasiri Kemadasa. In 1975, he created the documentary-fiction For a Better Tomorrow, portraying rural development in the fictional village of Malwinna. G.W. Surendra played the lead role, with screenplay by Tissa Abeysekara and music by Shelton Premaratne. Later, following disagreements with the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Paul Zils resigned as an advisor to the Government Film Institute.
Fond of Sri Lanka and Buddhist culture, Paul Zils settled in seclusion in Kandy. He later returned to Germany for treatment for cirrhosis and died on 30 March 1979 in Munich, aged 63. Despite remaining a mysterious figure in Indian cinema, he is remembered as a foreign filmmaker who made invaluable contributions to the early development of documentary film in India and Sri Lanka.
