Nationality Bangladeshi | Name Kamar Saimon | |
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Known for Writer-Director-Cinematographer Notable work Are You Listening!, Shonkhodhoni(Silence of the Seashell), Ekti Sutar Jobanbondi. | ||
Kamar Ahmad Simon is a Bangladeshi film maker. He is a writer, director, and cinematographer who started his career in advertising as an art director. He joined with Tareque Masud, as the Chief art director for the movie Kagojer Phool.
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Early life
Simon is from Old Dhaka and born and brought up in a traditional Islamic family. He graduated as an architect from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 2000. After graduation, he started his career in advertising as an art director.
Films
Simon's first feature documentary is Are You Listening!. This film is based on climate change, fighting spirit of coastal belt community and their survival. Ekti Sutar Jobanbondi was his first television documentary which was screened on Japan's NHK Television on June 29. This film won the Asian Pitch for its screenplay. Shonkhodhoni was the only non-European selection out of 24 scripts which were invited at European Producers Workshop 2012. This film also won script development grant from Goteborg International Film Festival, Sweden. It was also invited to "European Post-Production Connection 2013", and "Produire au Sud 2013", a co-production platform of "Festival of 3 Continents" held in Nantes, France.
Are You Listening!
Are You Listening! won the ‘Curtain-Opener’ of 55th DOK Leipzig in Germany (2012), one of the oldest documentary festivals of the world. Later the film won the ‘Grand Prix’ in the 35th Cinéma du Réel held in Paris (2013) and Golden Conch Award on 9 February 2014 at the Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF).The documentary was awarded the Golden Conch Award as the Best Documentary Award ( in above 40 minutes category). 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 Campus Studio Lab for editing. The film won 2015 Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Documentary Film. The ninth edition of Film Southasia 2013 was held at QFX Kumari, Kamalpokhari in Kathmandu from October 3–6. The film won The Asian Pitch held in Singapore in the last week along with two others: Da Jung Jang from Taiwan and Chaitali Mukherjee from India. The film theme is selected among the top ten lists out 125 in the La Cinema Du Monde (World’s Cinema) in Cannes and it is the first of this sort of achievement for Bangladesh.