Samir Mallal (born in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

) is a Canadian filmmaker whose work touches commercials,

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

, 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 (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

: '' Discordia'', '' Bombay Calling'' and '' Nollywood Babylon''. All three films were produced by Adam Symansky at the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

. His first film '' Discordia'' (2004) co-directed with fellow

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

graduate Ben Addelman follows three students during the aftermath of the Netanyahu riot at Concordia University in Montreal in 2002. His second film, '' Bombay Calling'' (2006) also co-directed with Ben Addelman follows the lives of

telemarketer Telemarketing (sometimes known as inside sales, or telesales in the UK and Ireland) is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products, subscriptions or services, either over the phone or throu ...

s working

outsource Outsourcing is a business practice in which company, companies use external providers to carry out business processes that would otherwise be handled internally. Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to ...

d jobs in a

call center A call centre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American English, American spelling; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a managed capability th ...

in Bombay (

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

), India. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. His film '' Nollywood Babylon'' (2008), co-directed with Ben Addelman 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. Awards *Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - '' We Live in Public'' *Grand Jury Prize: Drama ...

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