Role Filmmaker Name Samir Samir | ||
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Movies Iraqi Odyssey, Forget Baghdad: Jews and, Dora or the Sexual Neuroses, Going Private, Operation Libertad Similar People Stina Werenfels, Andrea Staka, Nicolas Wadimoff, Felix von Muralt, Daniel Schweizer | ||
What drives a filmmaker to make movies by samir
Samir (born July 29, 1955 in Baghdad) is a Swiss filmmaker, film producer and director.
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Life and work
Samir was born the son of a Swiss mother and an Iraqi father in Baghdad. Samir's full name is Samir Jamal al Din / Samir Jamal Aldin. His family moved in 1961 to Switzerland, where he went to school. He attended the School of Design in Zurich (today's ZHdK), completed an apprenticeship as a typographer (1971–73) and subsequently trained as a cameraman with Condor Films. From 1983, he worked as a freelance director and cinematographer. From 1984 to 1991 he was a writer and member of Videoladen Zurich (Video Store Zurich). In 1994 he and documentary filmmaker Werner Schweizer overtook the Dschoint Ventschr film production company.
From the mid-1980s, he began to realize his own films. In the 1990s he worked among others on behalf of Condor Films as a director of series like Eurocops and television films for German TV stations. His list of works – as a writer, director and/or producer – now includes over 40 short and feature films for cinema and TV.
In 2006 he received the Aargau Culture Award (Aargauer Kulturpreis).
Samir Jamal al Din (or Samir Jamal Aldin), chose to appear under his first name only – quote:
...why? "Jamal al Din means 'beauty of religion'. I do not know how you would feel if you were not very religious, and would always have to say, 'Hello, my name is Beauty of Religion'," says [he] ..."For me Samir is perfect, as that means 'Storyteller'."Filmography
as director (selection)
As co-/producer a.o.: documentary film "White Terror" by Daniel Schweizer (2005), mockumentary "Birdseye" by Stephen Beckner and Michael C. Huber (2002), feature films "Nachbeben / Aftershock" by Stina Werenfels (2006), "Das Fräulein" by Andrea Staka (2006), "Opération Libertad" by Nicolas Wadimoff (2012), "Dawn" by Romed Wyder.