Shomi Patwary


Shomi Patwary is a Bengali American filmmaker, and co-founder of the creative collective Illusive Media based out of Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Illusive Media

While a student at Old Dominion University Patwary co-created the multimedia artists collective, Illusive Media, with his lifelong friend and classmate Philip Ly. Initially the group began creating a web presence for underground artists, but later helped national acts like Sean Paul and N*E*R*D create an image that connected with a broader fan base. As websites like MySpace began to lose its grip in the internet and bloggers became the dominant source of information, Shomi and Illusive Media began directing Music Videos giving bloggers exclusive content to certain artists. Through Illusive Media, Shomi has directed music videos for several artists, most notably A$AP Mob & Clipse. Shomi Patwary with Illusive Media has directed videos for: Lupe Fiasco, Major Lazer, ASAP Rocky, Mark Ronson, Joey Badass as well as many others.
Shomi is known for his guerrilla style of directing and editing often shooting, editing and releasing a complete project on the fly over a few days time. This allowed Illusive Media to remain more of an artists collective rather than a for-profit business making just enough money to keep the lights on and thus attracting attention from top musicians and record industry executives across the globe. Through Illusive Media, Patwary is also widely respected for often taking into account a musician's image and artistic input and putting his own spin on the project creating a truly collaborative process. He is often credited alongside other Illusive Media artistic collaborators such as Phil Ly, Abe Vilchez-Moran, Robert Elliot Simmons, Tashfiq Patwary, Charley Feher, Paolo Obcemane and Jay McCord. Shomi's younger brother, Tashfiq, is a member of the VERYRVRE production team which has produced tracks for the hip hop collective A$AP Mob and Santigold.
The most notable music video directed by Shomi is Lupe Fiasco's "I'm Beamin" with critical acclaim from numerous critics including the New York Post, which called the "Lupe Fiasco 'I'm Beamin' video a breath of fresh air". The 2011 MTV Movie Awards listed the video as #4 on its "Best Of" playlist.

Haiti earthquake

After the 2010 Haiti earthquake Shomi teamed up with Robert Simmons, Jay McCord, Kenna, Lupe Fiasco, and Mike Shinoda on the "Resurrection" music video to promote the "Music For Relief". The song was written and the music video was directed for free with all proceeds going to aid the Haiti disaster through Music for Relief. The music video received critical acclaim and became a YouTube viral hit due to its creative use of animating still photographs to create movement without losing the impact of the photo itself.

KarmaloopTV & the FADER

In April 2012, Shomi was brought on board as an in-house music video director and television producer by Karmaloop.com's TV division. Shomi has worked with KarmaloopTV to help build the television and music video brand and tie it in with the online retail giant's streetwear image. KarmaloopTV created a new division known as Karmaloop Media during the summer of 2012 Since taking the helm at Karmaloop, Patwary has shot videos for Beyoncé, ASAP Rocky, Diplo, Stalley, Wale, No Malice of the Clipse, and A-Trak. In 2014, Shomi left his appointment with Karmaloop to join the editorial team at the FADER magazine. With the FADER he will oversee all video production as Senior Video Producer.

2016 Much Music Award nominations

Shomi Patwary was nominated in several categories in 2016's Much Music Awards for Belly's video "Might Not" featuring The Weeknd.
Video of the Year
Best Hip Hop Video
Best MuchFact Video

2007