Kamar Ahmad Simon


Kamar Ahmad Simon is a new generation Bangladeshi filmmaker, writer, and cinematographer with many international awards and acclaims.

Early life

Kamar was born and brought up in the old lanes of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. He studied architecture at university. After graduation, he opted for a career as a creative director in advertising before becoming a full-time filmmaker.

Filmography

''Are You Listening! (Shunte Ki Pao!) 2012''

Kamar's first feature creative non fiction film is Are You Listening!.
Are You Listening! was the ‘Curtain-Opener’ of 55th DOK Leipzig in Germany, the oldest documentary festivals of the world. Later the film won the ‘Grand Prix’ in the 35th Cinéma du Réel held in Paris and Golden Conch Award on 9 February 2014 at the Mumbai International Film Festival. Kamar also won the award for “Best Cinematography” for the same film. It was awarded twice by Jan Vrijman Fund from IDFA and also by Visions Sud est from Switzerland. It was awarded as one of the best Pitches at the Asian Forum for Documentaries and it is invited to Berlinale Talent Campus Studio Lab for editing. The film won 2015 Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Documentary Film. The film theme is selected among the top ten lists out 125 in the La Cinema Du Monde in Cannes Film Festival and it is the first of this sort of achievement for Bangladesh.

''Testimony of a Thread (Ekti Sutar Jobanbondi)'' 2015

Testimony of a Thread was his first television documentary which was co-produced by four leading Asian Broadcasters NHK, KBS, Mediacorp and PTS. This film won the Asian Pitch for its screenplay.

''Iron Stream (Shikolbaha)'' Work in Progress

Iron Stream is Kamar's first fiction project. It was the only non-European selection out of 24 projects which were invited to European Producers Workshop. Iron Stream received script development grant from Goteborg International Film Festival, Sweden. It was also invited to European Post-Production Connection and Produire au Sud a co-production platform of Festival of 3 Continents in Nantes, France. This script also won World Cinema Fund from Berlin International Film Festival and National Film Grant of Bangladesh.

''day after... (Onnodin)'' Work in Progress

'day after... ' is the 2nd Part of 'Water Trilogy' by Kamar after Are You Listening!. The project was invited to La Atelier in Cannes 2017 as one of the 15 promising scripts. For this work-in-progress Kamar was awarded ‘Best Project Award’ & ‘ARTE International Prix’ in Locarno Film Festival 2016. Earlier the project also received grant awards from Sundance Film Festival and International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.

Awards and accolades