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

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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 [de] 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

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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 [de] / 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 [de] (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

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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 [de] (swissfilms.ch)
4. ^ SAMIR Producer, Author, Director – bio- and filmography at Dschoint Ventschr [de] (dschointventschr.ch)
5. ^ Samir erhält den Aargauer Kulturpreis 2006, media release, AZ Medien [de] (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

## External links

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* Samir at IMDb

### Reviews

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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

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany
* United States
* France
* BnF data
* Netherlands
* Israel

Artists|

* Museum of Modern Art

People|

* Deutsche Biographie
* DDB

Other|

* IdRef