Param Gill

Param Gill is an Award winning American film director and writer of Indian origin, known for directing films which tackle diverse themes.^[1] He is active in Hollywood and Bollywood film industry and has won numerous awards for his films.^[2]

Career

Gill made history, and became first director in the world to premiere his Hollywood film, Last Supper and Bollywood film, Death of Amar over the same weekend at a Film Festival in San Francisco. .^[3] The movies competed against each other and went on to win multiple awards including best director with a cash prize of USD 100000.^[4][5] Gill was born at Moga, Punjab and his father was a farmer. He was penniless when he came to United States in May 2001 and worked nights at a gas station in New Jersey.^[6] Gill received joint masters from University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and New Jersey Institute of Technology in 2003 and received a diploma in film-making from New York Film Academy in 2005. He practiced dentistry in Modesto and founded Gill Dental Dental Group with multiple locations in Northern California until he completely transitioned to films.^[7]

Films

Param made his directorial debut in 2009 with the English language comedy film Rockin' Meera' starring Terrence Quaites, Sonu Sood, Nauheed Cyrusi, Debra Wilson and Sayaji Shinde. The film took two years to complete and was shot on location at Bikaner, India and San Francisco, California. Although the film was well promoted and had a decent opening at the box office,^[8] it failed commercially since it was released only on limited screens. Rockin' Meera collected a million dollars from just about 15 prints spread on 45 screens over a period of 3 months which was way short of its 1.5 million dollar budget. The film found critical acclaim in festival circuit and played at Independent Black film festival, South Asian film festival, Sweet Auburn film festival and many others. The movie soundtrack ^[9] was composed by Will Storkson and Satish-Ajay. The soundtrack featured Sukhwinder Singh, Shaan, Sunidhi Chauhan, Terrence Quaites and Tatyana Ali.

Param's next movie 'Hotel Hollywood',^[10] was a dark thriller about a wedding party which checks into a hotel and is not found again. Param firmly believed that good cinema is possible without spending big bucks and involvement of audience. This statement was put to test when the movie released on 23 July 2010. The film opened to a huge response in North American theaters and made headlines for "Crack the Code and Win $20000". The Internet was abuzz with more than half a million hits to the web site and tens of thousands of fans on Facebook. Hundreds of code entries were submitted even before the film was released to the North American market. Critics gave the following comments: “TERRIFYING ACTION AND SUSPENSE! I felt wary and fearful for 2 days after watching HOTEL HOLLYWOOD... Mac Ferguson (Critic). HOTEL HOLLYWOOD IS A MUST WATCH... Times of India. ^{[3] [11]}

Param was hired to direct his first Bollywood film, "DOA Death of Amar" in Summer 2013, produced by Remo D'Souza and starring Rajeev Khandelwal, Zarine Khan and Prashant Narayanan, set for worldwide release in spring 2015.^[12]

Param is now touring the festival circuit with Last Supper starring Eddie Griffin, Josh Meyers, Najarra Townsend, Yves Bright and Mindy Robinson. It is produced by J Bhandal and set for worldwide release in April 2015.^[13]

Param is next working on, "DENTIST 3D" which is a horror comedy inspired from Roger Corman classic movie The Little Shop of Horrors.

FlickBag Foundation of Arts

Param is founder of FlickBag Foundation of Arts. The foundation works on curbing piracy of films in United States. The foundation also honors those involved in field of cinema with DECADE awards. DECADE stands for D- Determination, E - Excellence, C - Courage, A - Aggression, D - Diligence, E - Exclusive.^[14]

Books

Param wrote a book, "How to lose a million dollars and not loose your smile" based on his experiences with film industry. The book is set for release through Amazon.com.

Dentistry

Param founded 'Gill Dental Group' at the heights of recession. He owned a dental practice in Stockton, California when recession hit in 2007 and Stockton was declared foreclosure capital of the country. Most of his patients lost their jobs and associated medical, dental benefits. Gill sensed an opportunity to make a difference and provide dental services for uninsured. Gill Dental plan was introduced in 2008 and was of big help to underprivileged and uninsured until it was folded in 2012 once the economy inched back to normal.^[15]

Awards

Filmography

References

External links

• Param Gill at the Internet Movie Database
• Rockin Meera information.
• News press release.
• Gill Dental Group official site.
• Neteffectmedia.com
• Film release news article.
• Arts festivals and exhibitions information.