Amir Muhammad (born 5 December 1972) is a

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n writer and independent filmmaker.

Life and career

He was born on 5 December 1972 in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

to civil servant Muhammad Abdullah and housewife Asiah Kechik. He was educated at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

with a degree in Law, though he never did his

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

but rather worked in his sponsoring company's legal company for nine months. He had also written for Malaysian print media since the age of 14, notably the

New Straits Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as a local offshoot of Singapore-based ''The Straits Ti ...

, where he had worked there as a part timer under several editors. He had a dedicated column there from 1995 until it was stopped in 1999 during the general elections as the column was considered to be "unhelpful to the government in its bid to win the elections." Amir took up filmmaking on the encouragement of film director U-Wei Haji Saari after interviewing the latter during his part-time job as the latter's film ''Perempuan, Isteri Dan...?'' was released in 1993. In 2000, he wrote and directed Malaysia's first DV feature. Some of his works have also been featured in a number of international film festivals including the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

and the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

. Two of his films, Apa Khabar Orang Kampung and '' The Last Communist'' have been banned in Malaysia. A full retrospective of his work was screened at the 2008 Pesaro Film Festival, Italy. He is a partner at Da Huang Pictures. He also publishes books under his companies

Matahari Books Matahari Books is a Malaysian publishing company founded in 2007 by Amir Muhammad (director), Amir Muhammad. It specialises in Malaysian non-fiction and also screenplay books. It publishes books in both English language, English and Malay lan ...

(started in 2007) and Buku FIXI (since 2011), taking a break from film-making during this time period.

Filmography

Films

* ''Lips to Lips'' (2000) * '' The Big Durian'' (2003) - Special citation, Dragons and Tigers Award in 2004

Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festi ...

; Special mention, New Asian Currents in 2003

Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival The Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival is a documentary film festival held biennially in Yamagata, Japan ( ). It was first held in October 1989, which makes it one of the longest- running documentary film festivals in the world ...

* ''The Year of Living Vicariously'' (2005) * ''Tokyo Magic Hour'' (2005) * '' The Last Communist (Lelaki komunis terakhir)'' (2006) * Apa Khabar Orang Kampung (''Village People Radio Show'') (2007) * '' Susuk'' (2008) * '' Malaysian Gods'' (2009) * ''Kisah Pelayaran Ke Terengganu'' (2016)

Short films

* ''6horts #1: Lost'' (2002) - Won, Critics prize for Best Asian Digital Film in 2002

Singapore International Film Festival The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) (Simplified Chinese, Chinese: 新加坡国际电影节) is the longest-running film festival in Singapore, founded in 1987. The 35th Singapore International Film Festival took place from 28 Novem ...

(SIFF) * ''6horts #2: Friday'' (2002) * ''6horts #3: Mona'' (2002) * ''6horts #4: Checkpoint'' (2002) * ''6horts #5: Kamunting'' (2002) - Won, Silver Screen Award for Best Asian Digital Short in 2003 SIFF * ''6horts #6: Pangyau'' (2002) *'' The Amber Sexalogy'' (2006)

Books

* ''

Yasmin Ahmad Yasmin binti Ahmad (7 January 1958 – 25 July 2009) was a Malaysian film director, writer and scriptwriter. She was the executive creative director at Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur. Her television commercials and films are well known in Malaysia fo ...

's Films'' (

, 2009) * ''Rojak'' (ZI Publications, 2010) * ''120 Malay Movies'' (

, 2010) * '' Malaysian Politicians Say the Darndest Things'' series (Matahari Books)

References

External links

*
Writing by Amir (blog)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad, Amir Malaysian film directors Malaysian film producers Alumni of the University of East Anglia 1972 births Living people People from Kuala Lumpur Malaysian writers Malay-language film directors English-language film directors Tamil-language film directors Malaysian experimental filmmakers Malaysian documentary film directors Malaysian documentary film producers 20th-century Malaysian people 21st-century Malaysian people