Early life and education
Kamar was born and brought up in an orthodox Muslim family of the old part ofCareer
After graduating as an architect, Kamar has started his career as a creative director. He built a basic studio setup of camera, sound, gears and an alternative projection setup on his own. To advance his learning with no film school in the country, Kamar enrolled into programs likeFilmography
''Shunte Ki Pao! (Are You Listening!)''
Kamar's first feature creative non-fiction film is ''Are You Listening!'', released in 1012. ''Are You Listening!'' was the ‘Curtain-Opener’ of 55th DOK Leipzig in Germany (2012), the oldest documentary festivals of the world. Later, the film won the ‘Grand Prix’ in the 35th Cinéma du Réel held in Paris (2013) and Golden Conch Award on 9 February 2014 at the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF). Kamar also won the award for "Best Cinematography" for the same film. It was also the opening film of Open Doors Screening at Locarno Festival, Locarno Film Festival. 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 38th Bangladesh National Film Awards, 2015 Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Documentary Film. 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.''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), Korean Broadcasting System, KBS (Korea), Mediacorp (Singapore) and Public Television Service, PTS (Taiwan). This film won the Asian Pitch for its screenplay. According to the director, ''Testimony of a Thread'' is a monologue collage inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s ''Rashomon, 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), Korean Broadcasting System, KBS (Korea), Mediacorp (Singapore) and Public Television Service, PTS (Taiwan), Neel Mukut was set for theatrical release on 27 March 2020 but then halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although, initially nothing had been shared about the film's story or lineup but the poster of the film drew much attention. The film also received an uncut censor certificate from Bangladesh Censor Board. Finally the film was released in Bangladeshi OTT platform Chorki on 8 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 at the Tuschinski Theatre, Pathé Tuschinski in Amsterdam, Netherlands after being nominated at the International Competition of IDFA that year. Winner of the prestigious Harrell Awards for the best at the Camden International Film Festival, Camden International Film Festival (CIFF), the film was also invited at other prominent festivals like the First Look Film Festival by Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI), Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI), Vancouver International Film Festival and Zurich Film Festival. The project was invited to La Atelier in Cannes 2017 as one of the 15 promising scripts. For this work-in-progress Kamar was awarded ‘Open Doors Awards’ & ‘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).''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. Iron Stream received script development grant from Goteborg International Film Festival, Sweden. 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. This script also won World Cinema Fund (WCF) from Berlin International Film Festival twice and National Film Grant of Bangladesh. The film is co-produced by Germany's Weydemann Bros. The project was initially titled as ''Shongkhodhoni (Silence of the Seashell).''Awards and accolades
* Harrell Awards, Camden International Film Festival, Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) * Arte International Prix & Open Doors Awards, Locarno Film Festival * Featured Red Carpet Director at Piazza Grande, Locarno Festival, Locarno Film Festival * Grant Award, Sundance Film Festival * Grant Award: Script & Production, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, IDFA (Jan Vrijman Fund & IDFA Bertha Fund) * World Cinema Fund (WCF), Berlin Film Festival * Opening Night Film, Dok Leipzig, 55th Dok-Leipzig, Germany 2012 * Jury Award, Film South Asia 2013, Nepal * Grand Prix for Best Feature-Length Documentary, 35th Cinéma du Réel 2013, France * Audience Choice Award, Seattle South Asian Film Festival (SSAFF) 2014, Seattle, USA * Best Cinematography, Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) 2014, India * Golden Conch for Best Feature-Length Documentary, Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) 2014, India * Best Feature for Best Feature-Length Non-fiction, 38th Bangladesh National Film Awards, Bangladesh National Film Award 2013References
Further reading
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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Kamar Ahmad Bangladeshi film directors People from Dhaka Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Bangladeshi cinematographers Bangladeshi artists Living people