Kamar Ahmad Simon

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Kamar Ahmad Simon
Kamar in Sydney.jpg
Alma materBangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
OccupationFilm director, cinematographer, writer, architect
Years active2012–present
Awards

Kamar Ahmad Simon is a new generation Bangladeshi filmmaker whose works centre existential themes of the subaltern and style challenges the border between fiction and non-fiction. Kamar came to fame with his critically acclaimed debut ‘Are You LIstening!’ for which he won the Grand Prix at Cinéma du Réel at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and Golden Conch at the Mumbai International Film Festival. ‘Are You Listening!’ was also the curtain-opener of Locarno Open Doors Screening and Dok-Leipzig in Germany. Kamar was featured as the red carpet Director at Locarno Piazza Grande after winning the best project award in Locarno Open Doors Hub for the 2nd part of the water trilogy ‘Day after…’, which was in the main international competition of IDFA 2021. It was also invited to La Atelier Cinéfondation of Cannes where only the organizers reserve the right to invite the upcoming very best of world cinema. Kamar received WCF from Berlinale for his upcoming feature ‘Iron Stream’.’ La Bibliothèque publique d’information (BPI) France, Johns Hopkins University USA has acquired his film and Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) have exhibited his work.

Early life[]

Kamar was born and brought up in an orthodox Muslim family of the old part of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Growing close to the stray dogs and pigeons in the sky, Kamar's refuge was the old alleys, the fallen kites and the boats waiting to leave the port. Reading books and making paper houses of wedding cards became his hobby, playing around the masons and the carpenters was his favorite pastime. Chasing an old dream, Kamar passed one of the most competitive exams at Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology, the leading university of the country and enrolled in under-graduate program studying architecture. Repeated encounters with international cinema running in local festivals opened a new window and Kamar started exploring the ethos of artistic film-making. After graduating as an Architect, Kamar started his career as a Creative Director to gather in-depth knowledge about audio-visual production. For all the technical skills Kamar explored online and built a basic studio setup of camera, sound, gears and an alternate projection setup on his own. To advance his learning with no film school in the country, Kamar enrolled into programs like Berlinale Talents, European AudioVisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE) workshops (Croatia, Luxembourg and Amsterdam), IDFAcademy Summer School (Amsterdam, Netherlands), Produire au Sud (Nantes, France) and Asian Film Academy (Busan, South Korea).[1]

Filmography[]

Shunte Ki Pao! (Are You Listening!) 2012[]

Main article: Are You Listening!

Kamar's first feature creative non fiction film is Are You Listening!

Are You Listening! was the ‘Curtain-Opener’ of 55th DOK Leipzig in Germany (2012), the oldest documentary festivals of the world.[2] Later the film won the ‘Grand Prix’ in the 35th Cinéma du Réel held in Paris (2013)[3] and Golden Conch Award on 9 February 2014 at the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF).[4] Kamar also won the award for “Best Cinematography” for the same film.[5] It was also the opening film of Open Doors Screening at Locarno Film Festival.[6] First of Kamar's Water Trilogy, the film was awarded twice by Jan Vrijman Fund from IDFA and also by Visions Sud est from Switzerland. It was awarded as one of the best Pitches at the Asian Forum for Documentaries and it is invited to Berlinale Talent Campus Studio Lab for editing. The film won 2015 Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Documentary Film.[7][8] The film theme is selected among the top ten lists out 125 in the La Cinema Du Monde (World's Cinema) in Cannes Film Festival and it is the first of this sort of achievement for Bangladesh.[9][10][11][12]

Ekti Sutar Jobanbondi (Testimony of a Thread) 2015[]

Testimony of a Thread was his first television documentary which was co-produced by four leading Asian Broadcasters NHK (Japan), KBS (Korea), Mediacorp (Singapore) and PTS (Taiwan).[13] This film won the Asian Pitch for its screenplay.[14] According to the director, Testimony of a Thread is a monologue collage inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s Roshomon, in search of a face behind the numbers of the deadliest structural failure accident in modern human history.

Neel Mukut 2021[]

Co-produced by four leading Asian Broadcasters NHK (Japan), KBS (Korea), Mediacorp (Singapore) and PTS (Taiwan), Neel Mukut was set for theatrical release on March 27, 2020 but then halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[15] Although, initially nothing had been shared about the film's story or lineup but the poster of the film drew much attention.[16] The film also received an uncut censor certificate from Bangladesh Censor Board.[17] Finally the film was released[18] in Bangladeshi OTT platform Chorki on 8th August, 2021. Being a docu-fiction, a genre not much explored in Bangladesh, the film received a positive response from both the critics and audience.

Anyadin... (Day After...) 2021[]

Day After... is the second part of Water Trilogy by Kamar after Are You Listening!. The film had its world premiere on 20 November 2021[19][20] at the Pathé Tuschinski in Amsterdam, Netherlands after being nominated at the International Competition of IDFA[21] that year. The project was invited to La Atelier in Cannes 2017 as one of the 15 promising scripts.[22] For this work-in-progress Kamar was awarded ‘Best Project Award’ & ‘ARTE International Prix’ in Locarno Film Festival (Open Doors) 2016. Co-produced by Barents Film and DW Film, earlier the project also received grant awards from Sundance Film Festival and International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).[23]

Shikolbaha (Iron Stream)[]

Iron Stream is Kamar's first fiction project. It was the only non-European selection out of 24 projects which were invited to European Producers Workshop.[24] Iron Stream received script development grant from Goteborg International Film Festival, Sweden.[25] It was also invited to European Post-Production Connection (EP2C) and Produire au Sud a co-production platform of Festival of 3 Continents in Nantes, France.[26][27] This script also won World Cinema Fund (WCF) from Berlin International Film Festival twice and National Film Grant of Bangladesh.[28][29] The film is co-produced by Germany's Weydemann Bros. The project was initially titled as Shongkhodhoni (Silence of the Seashell).[24]

Awards and accolades[]

  • Best Project Award & ARTE International Prix, Locarno Film Festival (Open Doors)
  • Grant Award, Sundance Film Festival
  • Grant Award: Script & Production, IDFA (Jan Vrijman Fund & IDFA Bertha Fund)
  • World Cinema Fund (WCF), Berlin Film Festival
  • Opening Night Film, 55th Dok-Leipzig, Germany 2012[30]
  • Jury Award, Film South Asia 2013, Nepal[31]
  • Grand Prix for Best Feature-Length Documentary, 35th Cinéma du Réel 2013, France[32]
  • Audience Choice Award, Seattle South Asian Film Festival (SSAFF) 2014, Seattle, USA[33]
  • Best Cinematography, Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) 2014, India[34]
  • Golden Conch for Best Feature-Length Documentary, Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) 2014, India[34]
  • Best Feature for Best Feature-Length Non-fiction, Bangladesh National Film Award 2013[35]

References[]

  1. ^ "Kamar Ahmad Simon". Berlinale Talents. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Are You Listening! (Shunte Ki Pao!)". Filmfinder.dok-leipzig.de. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  3. ^ "Cinéma du réel #12 — Cinéma du Réel". Cinemadureel.org. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  4. ^ "Kamar Ahmad Simon won Golden Conch Award of MIFF 2014". Jagranjosh.com. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  5. ^ "Kamar brings home Golden Conch". The Daily Star. 11 February 2014.
  6. ^ "Shunte ki pao!". www.locarnofestival.ch. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
  7. ^ "'Mrittika Maya' reigns supreme in National Film Award". Prothom Alo. 10 March 2015. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  8. ^ "Mrittika Maya". The Daily Star. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  9. ^ With International Award Winning Director, Kamar Ahmed Simon. YouTube. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  10. ^ ""Shunte Ki Pao!" wins jury award in Film Southasia '13". The Daily Star. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  11. ^ Kabir, Punny (26 December 2013). "Kamar wins Asian Grand Pitch". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  12. ^ Shazu, Shah Alam (3 January 2014). "Racy pace". The Daily Star. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  13. ^ "Kamar Simon's "Testimony of a Thread" on April 22". The Daily Observer. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  14. ^ "the Asian Pitch - This is your chance to break into the International Market!". Nhk.or.jp. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  15. ^ "Coronavirus Delays 'Neel Mukut'". Dhaka Tribune. 2020-03-12. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
  16. ^ "Poster of 'Neel Mukut' unveiled". The Daily Star. 2020-02-15. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
  17. ^ "Kamar Ahmad Simon's 'Neel Mukut' gets uncut censor certificate". The Daily Observer. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
  18. ^ "'Neel Mukut' to premiere on Chorki on August 8". The Daily Star. 2021-08-03. Retrieved 2021-10-16.
  19. ^ Young2021-11-20T22:20:00+00:00, Neil. "'Day After….': IDFA Review". Screen. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  20. ^ Balaga, Marta (2021-11-22). "'Day After…' Helmer Kamar Ahmad Simon Shows That at the End of the Day 'We Are All in the Same Boat'". Variety. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  21. ^ Barraclough, Leo (2021-11-01). "Louis Hothothot's 'Four Journeys' to Open IDFA; International Competition Lineup Revealed". Variety. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
  22. ^ Festival de Cannes (Officiel) (22 May 2017). "Les Realisateurs de l'Atelier - Photocall - VF -Cannes 2017". YouTube. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  23. ^ "Day After Tomorrow". cinando.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  24. ^ a b "SILENCE OF THE SEASHELL" (PDF). 3continents.com\access-date=18 July 2018.
  25. ^ "Bangladeshi script awarded in Göteborg". The Daily Star. 8 September 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  26. ^ "Post Production Training : Keep yourself up to date". Ep2c.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  27. ^ "Festival des 3 Continents - Silence of the Seashell (en production)". 3continents.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  28. ^ "Kamar Ahmad Simon wins grant for "Shonkhodhoni"". The Daily Star. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  29. ^ "Kamar wins World Cinema Fund, again". The Daily Star. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  30. ^ "Dok Leipzig opens tonight". DOK Leipzig web archive. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  31. ^ "The QFX Jury Award, Film Southasia".
  32. ^ ""Shunte Ki Pao!" declared Best Film at Cinema du Reel". The Daily Star. 2013-04-01. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  33. ^ "Chicago South Asian Film Festival". csaffestival.tumblr.com. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  34. ^ a b "MIFF'2014 Award Winning Films". Miff.in. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  35. ^ "PM distributes National Film Award". The Daily Star. 5 April 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2018.

Further reading[]

External links[]

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