Aneel Ahmad

Last updated

Aneel Ahmad
Born
Occupation(s) Film producer, film director, screenwriter, film editor
Years active1996 – present

Aneel Ahmad is a British filmmaker, writer, film director, and producer

Contents

Personal life

Ahmad was born and raised in a working-class family in Manchester.

With no formal training and no film education or qualifications, Ahmad started off making low budget HI8 films with his friends. [1] In 2005, he gained recognition by directing his first short film on a tiny budget of £2,500, Waiting For Sunrise. [1] In his early career, Ahmad gained experience by participating in many prestigious film writing courses; these included TAPS BAFTA, The First Film Foundation, Raindance Film Festival Script development, BBC's "Writers Room" new writers initiative, and The Writers Gym M.A Writers course (London Film School & French Institute). He was also part of other film courses such as NFTS Compass Point 2009/10, a mentoring programme for minorities run by Paul Moody (NFTS) and Marc Boothe, producer of Bullet Boy (B3Media) Some of the film mentors included Oscar BAFTA Winning directors Danny Boyle, Kevin Macdonald, Penny Woolcock, Asif Kapadia and artist Steve McQueen

His role models are Stanley Kubrick, David Lean, Satyajit Ray, Terrence Malick and documentary filmmaker Peter Watkins. [2] He won the UNICEF award in 2005 for his short documentary Waiting For Sunrise, and also was shortlisted for a Grierson Award for Best Newcomer in 2006. [3] In 2012, his short film Boy In Tree was long listed for a (BAFTA) British Academy of Film and Television Arts & in 2014, his short film Checkpost was long listed for a (BAFTA) British Academy of Film and Television Arts. In 2019 his short documentary Babli was a winning entry for the Super 8mm Straight 8 Cannes Film Festival.

Path into the film industry

Director Kevin Macdonald & Aneel Ahmad Jerwood Space 2010 Kevinmacdonald.aneelahmad.JPG
Director Kevin Macdonald & Aneel Ahmad Jerwood Space 2010

1996

Ahmad's first documentary was a 10-minute short, filmed in Manchester in 1996 and titled Movin as a Massive. The contributors H, Fitz, Fatty, Naveed were all school friends of Aneel Ahmad. This documentary was nominated by the Royal Television Society in 1996 for "Most Innovative Film/Video" and was one of the winners of the Lloyds Bank Film Challenge, organised with Channel 4.

2001

Asian Invasion is a 55-minute documentary that followed a group of Asian models and the organisers as they try to put on the GMEX Arena show with Bollywood stars and mainstream Bhangra groups which included DCS, B21, Bally Jagpal, and Jassi Sidhu

2003

In 2003 British film director Aneel Ahmad shot 2 short films connected with boxing, and one of the boxing sequence was filmed at the famous Salford Lads Club The club gained fame in 1986 when the alternative rock band The Smiths posed in front of the building for the inside cover of their album The Queen Is Dead .

A Man's World, an experimental film or avant garde, was shot late in 2003. The brutal world of boxing is not an obvious place to look in order to escape personal demons. But the bloody sport is a stark metaphor for the salvation of a disaffected woman from the outskirts of Manchester who finds solace inside the ring.

The entire production budget was £300 and was funded under the UKFC and Virgin Media shorts scheme.

Ahmad made his second short in 2003, a documentary titled The Day of the Fight. [4] [5] which was a behind the scenes documentary on Manchester's boxing gymnasiums. He followed many professional boxers which included world champion Ricky Hatton, Michael Gomez, and boxing trainers such as Billy Graham and Brian Hughes M.B.E.

Shooting abroad

Director Danny Boyle & Aneel Ahmad NFTS, 2009 DannyBoyleaneelahmadNFTS.JPG
Director Danny Boyle & Aneel Ahmad NFTS, 2009

[6]

2005

Waiting for Sunrise was Ahmad's first international short documentary, funded by North West Vision Media [7] and the UK Film Council film won the United Nations (UNICEF) UK Award at Sheffield in 2005. [8] It was short listed for one of the film world's most distinguished awards—the Grierson Awards for documentary. Ahmad has also won critical acclaim and praise for his work from some of the biggest industry professionals such as Hollywood Feature film directors Ridley Scott ( American Gangster ), Sir Alan Parker (Evita), Mike Leigh (Vera Drake), Stewart Till Chairman of UIP, Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction) Universal Pictures, Merchant Ivory Productions, Working Title Films, BBC, Fox, Film4, and many more leading industry figures.

2007

Boot Polish UK Film Council North West Vision Media [9]

Director Asif Kapadia & Aneel Ahmad Jerwood Space 2010 Dir Aneel Ahmad & Asif Kapadia Jerwood Space 2010.jpg
Director Asif Kapadia & Aneel Ahmad Jerwood Space 2010

A shoeshine boy on the dusty streets of Lahore dreams of rescuing a beautiful courtesan. Boot Polish is a film about dreams. Barbar and Lalita work side by side in the dusty streets of Lahore. Barbar is a shoeshine boy and Lalita a local courtesan, a girl prized for her beauty and grace. Barbar dreams of rescuing Lalita from the poverty that traps them both. One day, he's pushed to the edge.

Ahmad made his third short film with North West Vision as part of the new Lottery-funded UK Film Council Digital Shorts Scheme"Boot Polish". With a production budget of 18,000 pounds.

Boot Polish has been classed as one of the first British cross genre Bollywood films, similar to the feature film by Danny Boyle titled Slumdog Millionaire creating a mixture of reality & Bollywood.

The film was shot in Lahore, Pakistan in 2006 and was screened worldwide to a number of film festivals within 2007/09.

Boot Polish was co-produced with Ahmad by (BAFTA) British Academy of Film and Television Arts winning short Producer Kelly Broad.

In 2007, Aneel Ahmad & his film Boot Polish were shortlisted top 20 finalists, for one of the world's most prestigious Incircle Grant Schemes at the Abu Dhabi Middle East Film Festival

2007 Boot Polish won best cinematography award for the short film category at the (BET) Black Entertainment Television BFM Festival [10]

2008 Boot Polish and Waiting For Sunrise were preserved for the nation by the British Film Institute for national archive.

2008 Boot Polish won best foreign film at the Route 66 film festival in the US. [11] The festival has been credited as one of the 25 festivals worth the fee in MovieMaker Magazine. 2008 Boot Polish won a gold medal for excellence in music short film award 2008 5th Annual Park City Music Festival held in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah US. [12]

2011

Boy in the Tree is a short film about people's hopes, goals, dreams and desires and how people strive to achieve those desires under adverse circumstances. Give the world the best you have and you might get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you've got anyway

In 2012 Boy in the Tree was long listed for a (BAFTA) British Academy of Film and Television Arts For Best short film.

Boy in the Tree has been acquired for the nation by the British Film Institute for national archive 2012.

Boy in the Tree Won Best Short Film Accolade & Listed for the Annual Humanitarian Award 2012.

Boy in the Tree Won the RNC Special Jury Grand Prix Award in Rouen France 2012.

Boy in the Tree Won the Moustapha Akkad Award Special Jury Commendation in England 2013.

2014

Checkpost

Three lives that will never be the same again. Three lives wounded by one bullet. On a remote highway in Pakistan, the sandy roadside reverberates with the sound of a sudden gunshot. A lone film crew instinctively hits the ground. As they scramble to their feet, dusting off their western attire, they notice one member of their troupe remains on the roadside, holding his stomach. Elsewhere, Roshan Khan and his son Sheikhu make their way across Pakistan making a routine delivery. From the moment the golden shell tore into British documentary filmmaker Shahid Elahi, a chain of International events were initiated.

In 2014 Checkpost was long listed for a (BAFTA) British Academy of Film and Television Arts For Best short film.

Checkpost has been acquired for the nation by the British Film Institute for national archive 2014

Checkpost nominated for the Best Original Composition/ Short film Score Award at the Music + Sound Awards 2014

Chris Bacon (Man Of Steel)

A six-minute short documentary. Chris Bacon is an ex professional British cruiser-weight Boxer Judo/MMA fighter, born in Australia and now residing in Manchester, trained by Bob Shannon a long time Manchester boxing coach.

2015

Rickshaw Passenger (Raksha Sawari)

The Rickshaw Passenger a short film about Imtiaz a Rickshaw driver, who gives a ride to Tameena, a hotel call girl and begins waiting for her daily; he falls in love with her and is trying to rescue her from the horrors of poverty and prostitution.

Rickshaw Passenger Won Best International Short Indie-Fest Film Awards & Listed for the Annual Humanitarian Awards 2015

Shooting England

2017

Emmott & Rowland

Emmott & Rowland were sweethearts and their story is a sad and romantic tragedy which has captured the imaginations of people who read about it. Set in Eyam Plague Village (England in 1665/66) A traditional tale of English romance, courtship in similarity to a Merchant Ivory Productions James Ivory Tom Hooper Joe Wright period film drama. The story is a fictional account based on the true events in Eyam 350 years ago.

Emmott & Rowland Semi Finalist for Best Short film CFFM 2017

Emmott & Rowland Indie Awards Winner Best International Short film Historical & Religious Award 2017

Emmott & Rowland Grace Day Winner Best actress in drama LA Actors Awards 2017

Emmott & Rowland Winner Best Historical short film CFFF 2017

Emmott & Rowland Winner Drama Honourable mention Los Angeles Film Awards 2017

Emmott & Rowland Bronze Winner Best Music & Nominated Best Short Film European Independent Film Awards 2017

Emmott & Rowland Winner Best inspirational short film at the New York Film Awards 2017

Emmott & Rowland Finalist US Hollywood Int'l Golden Film Awards & Int'l Film 2017

Emmott & Rowland Winner Global Shorts Awards Best Inspirational short 2017

Emmott & Rowland Winner Silver Best Musical Score LA short Awards 2017

Emmott & Rowland Winner Best Historical short at the New York Filmatic Awards 2017

Emmott & Rowland Winner Best Short film Atlanta Award-Qualifying Film Festival Awards 2018

Emmott & Rowland Semi Finalist European Cinematography Awards 2018

Emmott & Rowland Semi Finalist Los Angeles CineFest 2018

2018

Choice

Choice – On a cold, dark night, a woman is brutally attacked. She is now faced with a decision in order to escape her inner most personal demons. A choice that will not only effect her family. A choice that will impact them for the rest of their lives.

2018

The Day of the Fighter

The Day of the Fighter a short documentary drama on the day in the life of professional boxer Jack Massey. Filmed in Kodak Vision 3 Super 8mm Colour Negative Film 500T.

Shooting abroad

2019

Babli

Babli is a short documentary, following the life of a middle aged man with schizophrenia and chronic depression. Filmed in Kodak Vision 3 Super 8mm Colour Negative Film 500T.

Babli Winner Straight8 Super 8mm Film Festival Cannes Film Festival 2019

Babli Finalist Best Short Documentary Rome Prisma Independent film awards 2019

Babli Winner Best Short Documentary for disability at the Impact Doc Awards 2019

Babli Semi Finalist Los Angeles CineFest 2019

2019

IQBAL

Iqbal is a short documentary/drama, based on interviews and eyewitness accounts, on the serial killer Javid Iqbal who murdered over 100 children in the early 1990s Lahore Pakistan.

Iqbal Semi Finalist Best Director Aphrodite Film Awards 2019

Iqbal Winner Best Foreign Language Short Film 2019 Cardiff International Film Festival

Shooting England

2020

Dependence

Dependence is a 6-story complex interwoven drama filmed around the world.

Shooting abroad

2021

Her My Voice

A short documentary/drama based in the little known world of a dancing woman. Set in the vibrant city of Lahore "Her My Voice" tells the emotional story of Komal. A deaf mute transsexual, as she reconnects with her father after he suddenly falls ill leading to a stroke.

Filmography

YearTitleProductionNotes
1996 Movin as a Massive (Filmed in the UK)Documentary 10 minutes Channel 4 Lloyds Bank Film ChallengeNominated for a RTS Award 1996 Winner Lloyds Bank Film Challenge 1996
2001 Asian Invasion (Filmed in the UK)(Documentary 55 minutes)
2003 A Mans World (Fiction)(Filmed in the UK)(Includes – 30 minute behind the scenes documentary UKFC Virgin Media)
2005 Waiting For Sunrise 6 minutes Documentary(Includes – 30 minute behind the scenes documentary UKFC)(Filmed in Lahore Pakistan)Shortlisted for A Grierson Award 2005, Winner UNICEF UK Award 2005
2007 Boot Polish (Fiction) 12 minutes(Includes – 61 minute behind the scenes documentary UKFC)Winner Best Cinematography (BFM 2007), Shortlisted Incircle Grant Scheme Abu Dhabi 2008, Winner Route 66 (Best Short Film 2008), Winner Gold Medal Music Award (Park City 2008)
2011 Boy In The Tree (Fiction)(Filmed in Lahore Pakistan) 14 minutesLong listed for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Best short film (BAFTA 2012), Winner Best Short film Accolade Humanitarian Award 2012, Winner RNC Special Jury Grand Prix Award Rouen France 2012, Winner Special Commendation for The Moustapha Akkad Award England 2013
2014 Checkpost (Fiction)(UK/USA/PAKISTAN) 12 minutesLong listed for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Best short film (BAFTA 2014) Nominated for the Best Original Composition/ Short film Score Award at the Music + Sound Awards 2014
2014 Chris Bacon Man Of Steel Documentary(Filmed in the UK) 5 minutesBBC Three Fresh online short documentary
2015 Raksha Sawari Rickshaw Passenger(Filmed in Pakistan) 15 minutes FictionWinner Best Short film Indie-Fest Humanitarian Award 2015,
2017 Emmott & Rowland(Filmed in the UK Fiction) 15 minutes FictionSemi Finalist Best Short film CFFM 2017, Winner Best short film Historical & Religious Indie Awards 2017, Grace Day Winner Best actress in drama LA Actors Awards (2017), Winner Best Historical short film CFFF 2017, Semi Finalist European Cinematography Awards 2018, Winner Drama Honourable mention Los Angeles Film Awards 2017, Semi Finalist Los Angeles CineFest 2018, Winner Bronze Best Music & Nominated Best Short Film European Independent Film Awards 2017, Winner Best inspirational short film New York Film Awards 2017, Finalist US Hollywood Int'l Golden Film Awards 2017, Winner Global Shorts Awards Best Inspirational short 2017, Winner Silver Best Musical Score LA short Awards 2017, Winner Best Historical short at the New York Filmatic Awards 2017, Winner Best Short film Atlanta Award-Qualifying Film Festival Awards 2018
2018 Choice(Filmed in the UK Fiction) 3 minutes Fiction
2018 The Day of the fighter(Filmed in the UK) 3 minutes Doc/Drama
2019 Babli(Filmed in Pakistan) 3 minutes DocumentaryWinner Straight8 Super 8mm Film Festival 2019 Cannes Film Festival, Finalist Best Short Documentary Rome Prisma Independent film awards 2019, Winner Best Short Documentary for Disability at the Impact Doc Awards 2019, Semi Finalist Los Angeles CineFest 2019
2019 IQBAL(Filmed in Pakistan) 5 minutes DocumentarySemi Finalist Best Director Aphrodite Film Awards 2019, Winner Best Foreign Language Short Film 2019 Cardiff International Film Festival
2020 Dependence(Filmed in Pakistan, UK, USA) 14 minutes fiction
2021 Her My Voice(Filmed in Pakistan] 7 minutes documentary, drama
2022

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Malle</span> French film director, screenwriter, and producer

Louis Marie Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a filmmaker difficult to pin down", Malle made documentaries, romances, period dramas, and thrillers. He often depicted provocative or controversial subject matter.

Warp Films is an independent film and television production company based in Sheffield and London, England, UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Popper</span> British producer, writer and actor

Robert Darren Popper is a British comedy producer, writer, actor, and author, best known as co-creator of the mock BBC documentary Look Around You, and creator of Channel 4's sitcom Friday Night Dinner. He also wrote the books The Timewaster Letters, Return of The Timewaster Letters and The Timewaster Diaries under the pseudonym Robin Cooper.

Anne Wood, CBE is a British Puppet Creator and an English children's television producer, responsible for creating shows such as Teletubbies with Andrew Davenport. She is also the creator of Tots TV and Rosie and Jim. She was a recipient of the Eleanor Farjeon Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Lamorisse</span> French filmmaker, film producer, and writer (1922–1970)

Albert Lamorisse was a French filmmaker, film producer, and writer of short films which he began making in the late 1940s. He also invented the strategic board game Risk in 1957.

John Irvin is an English film director. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, he began his career by directing a number of documentaries and television works, including the BBC adaptation of John le Carré's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. He made several Hollywood films in the 1980s, including The Dogs of War (1980), Ghost Story (1981) and Hamburger Hill (1987).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeds International Film Festival</span> Film festival

The Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF) is an annual film festival hosted in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest film festival in England outside of London. Founded in 1987, it is held in November in various venues throughout Leeds, including Hyde Park Picture House and Cottage Road Cinema. In 2022, the festival showed 140 films from 78 countries, shorts and features, both commercial and independent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Kosminsky</span> British writer, director and producer (born 1956)

Peter Kosminsky is a British writer, director and producer. He has directed Hollywood movies such as White Oleander and television films like Warriors, The Government Inspector, The Promise, Wolf Hall and The State.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Urban Film Festival</span> Film festival for urban independent cinema

The British Urban Film Festival (BUFF) was formed in July 2005 to showcase urban independent cinema in the absence of any such state-sponsored activity in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Greenhalgh</span> English screenwriter

Matthew Greenhalgh is an English screenwriter from Manchester. He is best known for writing the screenplays of several biopic films, including Control (2007), Nowhere Boy (2009), Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017), and Back to Black (2024). He has received five BAFTA nominations, winning once for Most Promising Newcomer for Control—which also earned him an Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Screenplay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wunmi Mosaku</span> British-Nigerian actress (born 1986)

Oluwunmi Mosaku is a Nigerian-born British actress. She is known for her roles as Joy in the BBC Two miniseries Moses Jones (2009) and Holly Lawson in the ITV series Vera (2011–2012). She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Gloria Taylor in the TV film Damilola, Our Loved Boy (2016). In 2019, she starred in the fifth series of Luther. In 2020, she starred as Ruby Baptiste in HBO's Lovecraft Country, and starting in 2021, starred as Hunter B-15 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series Loki, and reprised the role in the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine.

<i>Yellowstone</i> (British TV series) 2009 British TV series or programme

Yellowstone is a BBC nature documentary series broadcast from 15 March 2009. Narrated by Peter Firth, the series takes a look at a year in the life of Yellowstone National Park, examining how its wildlife adapts to living in one of the harshest wildernesses on Earth. Yellowstone debuted on BBC Two at 8:00pm on Sunday 15 March 2009 and has three episodes. Each 50-minute episode was followed by a ten-minute film called Yellowstone People, featuring visitors to the Park and locals who had assisted the production team. The series was the channel's highest-rated natural history documentary in over five years with audiences peaking at over four million.

Ric Esther Bienstock is a Canadian documentary filmmaker best known for her investigative documentaries. She was born in Montreal, Quebec and studied at Vanier College and McGill University. She has produced and directed an eclectic array of films from investigative social issue documentaries like Sex Slaves, an investigation into the trafficking of women from former Soviet Bloc Countries into the global sex trade and Ebola: Inside an Outbreak which took viewers to ground zero of the Ebola outbreak in Zaire - to lighter fare such as Penn & Teller’s Magic and Mystery Tour.

Christopher Gerald Bacon is a British retired professional cruiserweight boxer and judoka born in Tasmania, Australia and residing in Manchester. During his professional boxing career he was trained by Bob Shannon, a long-time Manchester boxing coach. He is a former WBF European Super Cruiserweight Champion, former National Judo Champion, and Bronze medal winner at the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Bacon is former MMA fighter and also participated in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Jaine Green, is a UK documentary maker and former Stand-up comedian. She is currently Head of Content at Discover.film, a short film distribution platform and an adviser on systems for judging the quality of creative content at AI Aware, a company that is building products to detect AI generated images and videos.

The Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF) is an international film festival which takes place annually in York, England, at the beginning of November. Founded in 2011, it is a celebration of independent film from around the world, and an outlet for supporting and championing filmmaking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margy Kinmonth</span> British film director and producer

Margy Kinmonth is a British film director and producer.

George Bernard Amponsah is a British film director, who is most notable for his documentaries. His 2015 feature-length documentary film, The Hard Stop, about the death of Mark Duggan, won a 2017 BAFTA nomination for the Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. In 2023, Amponsah completed direction of his first drama feature, Gassed Up – described by The Guardian as "A Scorsese-like thrill ride" – which had a UK nationwide cinema release in February 2024, and subsequently played on the Amazon Prime streaming platform.

The Firefox Guardian is a wildlife documentary directed by conservation filmmaker Gunjan Menon about red pandas and community-driven conservation in Nepal. It is a cross-genre intersectional documentary that discusses social issues faced by women in Nepal as well as an urgent need for conservation of endangered red pandas.

<i>Heart Valley</i> Short documentary film

Heart Valley is a 2022 short documentary film about Welsh shepherd Wilf Davies. Directed and produced by filmmaker Christian Cargill, the film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 9, 2022 where it won the award for Best Documentary Short. It first broadcast in the UK on BBC Two Wales and BBC iPlayer on July 26, 2022 and released online with The New Yorker on December 2, 2022. The documentary won the BAFTA Cymru Award 2023 for Short Film and was nominated for The Grierson Award 2023 for Best Documentary Short. The Hollywood Reporter named Heart Valley as one of their Top 23 Short Documentaries of 2022 and it was one of 98 films to qualify for the 95th Academy Awards for Best Documentary Short.

References

  1. 1 2 "Shooting People: Shooter Films Interview with". Archived from the original on 29 April 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
  2. "Superstani's New Shisha Lounge: Aneel Ahmad - Directing the Raj". 27 September 2007.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Aneel Ahmad 'Film Maker'". Archived from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
  5. "The Day of the Fight". Archived from the original on 7 January 2006. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
  6. "Homepage | National Film and Television School". Archived from the original on 12 March 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  7. "New Talent Aneel Ahmad : North West Vision". Archived from the original on 14 October 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
  8. "Winners of new UNICEF UK Film Awards announced" (PDF). UNICEF. 22 July 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 26 August 2008. Retrieved on 26 August 2008.
  9. "Jane Davidson (Bootpolish) on Myspace".
  10. "The International Association of Wildlife Film-Makers". Archived from the original on 17 October 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
  11. "2008 ROUTE 66 FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE" (PDF). route66filmfestival.net. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  12. "Screenings". Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2015.