Munsur Ali (; born 25 May 1978) is a

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

i-born

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

film producer,

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, director and

social entrepreneur Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, Startup company, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to ...

, Labour Party

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

, and

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

for Portsoken ward. He is best known for his film '' Shongram'', the first time a British film has been simultaneously written, produced and directed by a

British Bangladeshi British Bangladeshis () are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots are from Bangladesh. Bengali Muslims have prominently been migrating to the UK since World War II. Migration reached its peak during the 1970s, with ...

Early life

Ali was born in

, arrived in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at the age of two in 1980 and grew up in

Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. The gate gave its name to ''Aldgate High Street'', the first stretch of the A11 road, that takes that name as it passes through the ancient, extramural Portsoken ...

where he still lives. He attended a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

school, studied

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

on weekends and Bangla after school, and also taught himself to speak in

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

. From an early age, Ali was influenced by films and in his late teens he took an interest in looking at alternative points of view in mainstream cinema. Going to the cinema a lot as a teenager gave him his inspiration. Ali attended

Sir John Cass Redcoat School Stepney All Saints Church of England Secondary School (formerly known as Sir John Cass's Foundation and Redcoat School) is a Church of England voluntary aided school and sixth form located in Stepney, London, England. The last Ofsted report in ...

and says he "didn't do too well at

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

." He learned film and photography at Epping Forest College. However, he "was confused and couldn't commit to

A-level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

," so he left in the second year. In 2004, he graduated with a 2:1 in BA Film and Broadcast Productions from

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public university, public research university in London, England. The University of North London and London Guildhall University merged in 2002 to create the university. The Un ...

. Ali's father was born in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(now Bangladesh). Ali's father has been in the UK since early 1950s. He gave up his Bangladeshi citizenship and became a British citizen. The majority of Ali's relatives live in the UK.

Filmmaking career

After graduating, Ali made documentaries and short films on social issues such as policing, knife crime and gang violence. In 2003, he set up an independent video and film production company Spotlight UK before formalising it as a company in 2005. Since then he has worked alongside global US, UK and Bollywood names. In September 2006, he founded Limelight Film Awards, an initiative to identify and celebrate emerging film talent. With the first event taking place in 2007, it is one of the largest independent short film awards ceremony. In 2009, he founded Epic Media Wedding Productions and set about specialising in producing cinematic quality wedding videos. In 2014, Ali wrote, directed and produced his debut feature film '' Shongram''. The film is a romantic drama set during the 1971

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

. He worked on the project for three years and it was the first time a British film was simultaneously written, produced and directed by a British Bangladeshi. In February, March and June 2014, he was interviewed by Nadia Ali on

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially those between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has produc ...

. Ali is working on two new films: ''Cinema'' which is about a young actor who enters the world of cinema and discovers a whole world of exploitation, corruption, drugs, thugs and betrayal, and ''The Final Message'' which is a supernatural horror based around Hebrew scriptures,

Christian scriptures A biblical canon is a set of texts (also called "books") which a particular Jewish or Christian religious community regards as part of the Bible. The English word ''canon'' comes from the Greek , meaning ' rule' or ' measuring stick'. The use ...

and the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

Political career

On 23 March 2017, Ali was elected as a Labour Party councillor for Portsoken ward in

in his home town of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, where Labour won five seats. Ali's decision to contest came after he was unhappy with the recent multimillion-pound housing development plans that is affecting his community's future. In June 2017, he was inaugurated at the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a guild hall or guild house, is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commo ...

in London as a member of the

Court of Common Council The Court of Common Council is the primary decision-making body of the City of London Corporation. It meets nine times per year. Most of its work is carried out by committees. City of London Corporation elections , Elections are held at least eve ...

that governs the City of London.

Awards

In 2012, Ali was presented with a Civic Award by Tower Hamlets, in recognition for his contribution of promoting young artists through the Limelight Film Awards.

Personal life

Ali is a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. He lives in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In December 2011, while working on the film ''Shongram'', Ali met and became close friends with Bangladeshi actress Dilruba Yasmeen Ruhee. On 3 September 2014, Ali married Ruhee in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

, Bangladesh, this was followed by a gaye holud ceremony on 4 September and a wedding reception on 5 September.

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Limelight Film Awards website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Munsur 1978 births Living people Bangladeshi Muslims British Muslims Bangladeshi emigrants to England British people of Bangladeshi descent Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Bangladeshi film producers British film producers Bangladeshi film directors British male screenwriters British film editors Muslim writers British Asian writers British social entrepreneurs Councilmen of the City of London Labour Party (UK) councillors Film directors from London Politicians from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets People educated at Sir John Cass Redcoat School Alumni of Epping Forest College Alumni of London Metropolitan University 21st-century British screenwriters Writers from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets