Samir (filmmaker)

Samir (born July 29, 1955 in Baghdad) is a Swiss filmmaker, film producer and director.

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 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, he began to realize his own films. In the 1990s he worked among others 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 he received the Aargau Culture Award (Aargauer Kulturpreis).[5]

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'." [6]

Filmography

as director (selection)

  • 2014 Iraqi Odyssey (documentary, also production, screenplay, cinematography, editing, cast)
  • 2010 Escher, der Engel und die Fibonacci-Zahlen / Escher, the angels and the Fibonacci numbers (documentary, also screenplay)
  • 2005 Snow White (feature film, also screenplay)
  • 2003 ZwischenSprach / InterimLanguage (documentary, also screenplay)
  • 2002 Forget Baghdad: Jews and Arabs – The Iraqi Connection (documentary, screenwriter, editor, cast)
  • 2001 Norman Plays Golf (also screenplay)
  • 1998 Projecziuns Tibetanas (documentary, screenwriting, cinematography, editing)
  • 1997 Angélique (Blind Date)
  • 1997 La eta knabino au keel oni trovas ian helpon (short film, also screenplay, production supervisor)
  • 1996 Tödliche Schwesternliebe / Deadly Sister Love
  • 1995 Die Drei – Hass; Jetzt oder nie; Todesoperation / The Three – Hatred; Now or Never; Death Surgery
  • 1994 Eurocops
  • 1994 La productrice
  • 1993 Babylon 2 (documentary)
  • 1992 (It was) Just a job (also writer, camera)
  • 1991 Immer & Ewig / Always & Forever (feature film, also production, screenplay, cinematography))
  • 1988 Filou (feature film, also writer)
  • 1986 Morlove – Eine Ode für Heisenberg / Morlove – An Ode for Heisenberg (feature film, also writer)
  • 1985 Schiefkörper-Video / Division Ring Video
  • 1984 Stummfilm / Silent Film (short film)

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.

gollark: I've messed with GLIDE a bit and it's quite impressive, and progress is only progressing.
gollark: Yes.
gollark: Commercial art things, I mean.
gollark: Art will be automated soon anyway.
gollark: I'm pretty sure this is a significant decision with actual differences, and so there's something like a "right answer". Randomly picking would not be likely to find that.

References
  1. Samir mentioned (a.o.) in the Filmography (selection) section at Condor Films company portrait (condorfilms.com)
  2. Samir mentioned (a.o.) in the Eurocops Schweiz press release of SRF (srf.ch)
  3. SWISS FILMS: Samir at Swiss Films (swissfilms.ch)
  4. SAMIR Producer, Author, Director – bio- and filmography at Dschoint Ventschr (dschointventschr.ch)
  5. Samir erhält den Aargauer Kulturpreis 2006, media release, AZ Medien Gruppe (azmediengruppe.ch), 4/19/06
  6. "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

Reviews

Iraqi Odyssey (2014)

Forget Baghdad (2002)

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