Samir Mallal (born in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

) is a Canadian filmmaker whose work touches commercials,

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

, and documentaries. Samir is based in Los Angeles, California.

Career

Samir's work appears on many platforms including advertising,

, and documentaries. The brands he has worked with in advertising include: Coca-Cola, Dell, Total, Google, GE, LG, Starbucks, Smirnoff, Tropicana, and Johnnie Walker. In 2015 Samir directed the VR film New Wave with Aron Hjtartarson from Framestore. New Wave is captured in spherical live action video, and is the first VR film to feature dynamically changing, character specific voiceover. The film was featured in Creative Review's recent exploration of VR in its July 2015 issue.” He has also made three

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

: ''

Discordia Eris (; grc-gre, :wikt:Ἔρις, Ἔρις ', "Strife") is the ancient Greek religion, Greek goddess of strife and discord. Her Roman equivalent is Discordia, which means the same. Eris's Greek opposite is Harmonia (mythology), Harmonia, whos ...

'', ''

Bombay Calling ''Bombay Calling'' is a 2006 feature documentary film directed by Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada which follows the journey of Kaz Lalani the pioneer of Call Centre Outsourcing. ''Bombay Calling'' ...

'' and ''

Nollywood Babylon ''Nollywood Babylon'' is a 2008 feature documentary film directed by Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, it is about the explosive popularity of Nigerian movies. The United Kingdom distributor is Dogwoo ...

''. All three films were produced by Adam Symansky at the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

. His first film ''

'' (2004) co-directed with fellow

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

graduate

Ben Addelman Ben Addelman (born 1977) is a Canadian filmmaker. He is known for directing four documentaries: ''Discordia'', '' Bombay Calling'', ''Nollywood Babylon'', and ''Kivalina vs. Exxon''. Besides directing, he is known for work as a cinematographer, sc ...

follows three students during the aftermath of the Netenyahu Incident at Concordia University in Montreal in 2002. His second film, ''

'' (2006) also co-directed with

follows the lives of telemarketers working

outsource Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

d jobs in a

call center A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone. ...

in Bombay (

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

), India. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. His film ''

'' (2008), co-directed with

tells the story of Lancelot 'Da Guvenor' Imasuen, as he prepares to make his 158th film in Lagos, Nigeria. The film premiered in the World Documentary Cinema Competition at the

2009 Sundance Film Festival The 2009 Sundance Film Festival was held during January 15, 2009 until January 25 in Park City, Utah. It was the 25th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. Award winners *Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - ''We Live in Public'' *Grand Jury Prize: ...

Awards

*Won with co-director Ben Addelman the Grand Jury Prize at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles for ''Bombay Calling''. *In 2009, he was nominated with co-director Ben Addelman for "Best World Cinema - Documentary" award during

for the film ''Nollywood Babylon''.IMDb.com: Samir Mallal Awards page
/ref> *In 2010, he won Best Young Director and a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. *He was also selected for the Saatchi and Saatchi New Directors Showcase.

References

External links

* Canadian documentary film directors Canadian people of Indian descent Film directors from Nova Scotia People from Halifax, Nova Scotia Living people Concordia University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Asian-Canadian filmmakers {{Canada-film-director-stub