Samir (filmmaker)
Samir Jamal al Din (born 29 July 1955), known professionally as Samir, is a Swiss filmmaker, film producer and director.
Life and work
[edit]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 to Switzerland in 1961, 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, Samir began to produce his own films. In the 1990s he worked on behalf of Condor Films[1] as a director of series like Eurocops[2] 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.[3][4]
In 2006 Samir received the Aargau Culture Award (Aargauer Kulturpreis).[5]
Samir has chosen to only use his first name, as explained in this 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'.[6]
Filmography
[edit]as director (selection)
- 1984 Stummfilm / Silent Film (short film)
- 1985 Schiefkörper-Video / Division Ring Video
- 1986 Morlove – Eine Ode für Heisenberg / Morlove – An Ode for Heisenberg (feature film, also writer)
- 1988 Filou (feature film, also writer)
- 1991 Immer & Ewig / Always & Forever (feature film, also production, screenplay, cinematography))
- 1992 (It was) Just a job (also writer, camera)
- 1993 Babylon 2 (documentary)
- 1994 Eurocops
- 1994 La productrice
- 1995 Die Drei – Hass; Jetzt oder nie; Todesoperation / The Three – Hatred; Now or Never; Death Surgery
- 1996 Tödliche Schwesternliebe / Deadly Sister Love
- 1997 Angélique (Blind Date)
- 1997 La eta Knabino (short film, also screenplay, production supervisor)
- 1998 Projecziuns Tibetanas (documentary, screenwriting, cinematography, editing)
- 2001 Norman Plays Golf (also screenplay)
- 2002 Forget Baghdad: Jews and Arabs – The Iraqi Connection (documentary, screenwriter, editor, cast)
- 2003 ZwischenSprach / InterimLanguage (documentary, also screenplay)
- 2005 Snow White (feature film, also screenplay)
- 2010 Escher, der Engel und die Fibonacci-Zahlen / Escher, the angels and the Fibonacci numbers (documentary, also screenplay)
- 2014 Iraqi Odyssey (documentary, also production, screenplay, cinematography, editing, cast)
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.
References
[edit]- ^ Samir mentioned (a.o.) in the Filmography (selection) section at Condor Films company portrait (condorfilms.com)
- ^ Samir mentioned (a.o.) in the Eurocops Schweiz press release of SRF (srf.ch)
- ^ SWISS FILMS: Samir at Swiss Films (swissfilms.ch)
- ^ SAMIR Producer, Author, Director – bio- and filmography at Dschoint Ventschr (dschointventschr.ch)
- ^ Samir erhält den Aargauer Kulturpreis 2006, media release, AZ Medien (azmediengruppe.ch), 4/19/06
- ^ "Iraqi Odyssey" auf der Berlinale: Geschichten aus dem Sorgenland ("Iraqi Odyssey" at Berlinale: Stories from the Worries Land), by Daniela Sannwald, Tagesspiegel (tagesspiegel.de), 2/8/15
External links
[edit]Reviews
[edit]Iraqi Odyssey (2014)
- Film Review 'Iraqi Odyssey' by Jay Weissberg, Variety, 12/01/14
- 'Iraqi Odyssey': Film Review by Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter, 10/8/14
Forget Baghdad (2002)
- Forget Baghdad (2002) – Film Review; Born in Iraq, Living in Israel, Pondering Issues of Identity, by Stephen Holden, New York Times, 12/5/03
- Film: Forget Baghdad, Directed by Samir, by Anya Kamenetz, Village Voice, 12/2/03
- Operation Iraqi Boredom, by V.A. Musetto, New York Post, 12/5/03
- Film Explores Identity, But Words Get in the Way, by Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post, 4/16/04
- Review: ‘Forget Baghdad — Jews and Arabs: The Iraqi Connection’, by Deborah Young, Variety, 12/23/03
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