Kamar Ahmad Simon attended the Antenna Documentary Film Festival 2013 in Sydney along with selected filmmakers from around the world who shared their hands-on experience in filmmaking.
He also took a ‘master class’ on October 06 in which he shared his experience of making film in Bangladesh.
The architect turned director Simon has attained popularity in the international film circuit following the success of his debut documentary film Shunte Ki Pao! (Are You Listening!), which has been screened at six festivals around the world and has bagged two awards: the best film award at prestigious Paris Cinema du Reel and the Jury Award at the Film South Asia in Nepal.
Kamar Ahmad Simon’s Shunte Ki Pao, featuring the struggles of coming back to life of the common people in the Sundarbans following the last Sidr, was also the curtain raiser of the German Dok-Leipzig festival in 2012.
Sharing his experience of his master lecture at the Antenna Documentary Film Festival in Sydney, Kamar in an email interview from Australia told New Age, ‘The foreigners were surprised seeing the energy and determination of the common people of Bangladesh to win the natural disaster as documented in Shunte Ki Pao.’
An excited director Simon further said that he would love to screen the documentary to the common people living in the remote areas in Bangladesh, who survive winning the odds.
Simon prefers to screen films in his own distribution channels as the cinemas of country, especially the ‘multiplexes’ give priority of screening foreign films. ‘Such trend is not helpful for developing the industry.’
Simon further said that he is working on his next project. ‘The script of my upcoming feature film has already been awarded by the Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFF) from Sweden. It’s a big project and requires time to work out the details; and when it comes to filmmaking, I prefer to be a slow-runner than compromising.’
The filmmaker, however, sees a lot of good vibe going around the film industry.
-With New Age input
