Ruben Amar (born in 1974) is a French

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 Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

and producer. He is best known for the independent feature film '' Swim Little Fish Swim'' and his two last

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

s ''Checkpoint'' and ''A Girl Like You With a Boy Like Me''.

Career

Early career and short films

Amar attended business school and spent time working for

startups A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses tha ...

and

television production A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

companies, then decided to pursue cinema and attended

filmmaking Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

workshops in London. Between 2007 and 2011, he directed several

s, shot in Paris, London, New York and on the Israeli-Palestinian border. These films appeared in many international

festivals A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

including

Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival The Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (French: ''Festival international du court métrage de Clermont-Ferrand'') is an international film festival dedicated to short films held annually in Clermont-Ferrand, France. It is the ...

International Film Festival Rotterdam International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...

, and

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

(SXSW). ''Checkpoint'', one of his last short film has premiered at

in 2011 where it won the Youth Critic Award. The film tells the story of a young Palestinian boy living in the Gaza Strip who accompanies his father on monthly visits to the ruins of a destroyed village. ''Checkpoint'' was exhibited worldwide in international film festivals including

, Slamdance,

Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 19 ...

, Raindance, and

Festival du cinéma méditerranéen de Montpellier A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival constitutes ...

. ''Checkpoint'' was broadcast by international TV channels (TPS, BeTV, Canal+ Poland, RTBF). Reviewers praised the film's story and cinematography.

Feature films

A year later, following the success of ''Checkpoint'', Ruben Amar started co-writing, co-directing and co-producing with Lola Bessis their first feature film, '' Swim Little Fish Swim'' (2013). Ruben Amar also produced ''Nathan Silver''s feature film, ''

Thirst Street ''Thirst Street'' is a 2017 black comedy film directed by American filmmaker Nathan Silver, from a screenplay by Silver and C. Mason Wells. Co-produced by American and French companies, and featuring American and French actors, it is set in Par ...

'' (2017) with his new production company ''PaperMoon Films''.

Filmography

Feature films

* ''Swim Little Fish Swim'' (2014) - Writer, Director & Producer * ''

'' (2017) - Producer

Short films

* ''Objet perdu(e)'' (2007) - Writer, Director & Producer * ''Des Mots Silencieux'' (2007) - Writer, Director & Producer * ''L'Absente'' (2008) - Writer, Director & Producer * ''Mauvaise Route'' (2008) - Writer & Producer * ''A Girl Like You With a Boy Like Me'' (2010) - Writer, Director & Producer * ''Checkpoint'' (2011) - Writer, Director & Producer * ''Don't Let the Sun Blast Your Shadow'' (2011) - Writer, Director & Producer

References

External links

* * ''Ruben Amar'' a
AlloCiné
(French)
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amar, Ruben Film directors from Paris French male screenwriters French screenwriters French film producers Living people 1974 births Mass media people from Montpellier