Samir Sarkar(I)
- Producer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Samir Sarkar is an Indian
national award winning film producer. He has produced 6 feature films and more that 50 TV commercials, documentaries and music videos under the banner of MAGIC HOUR FILMS, an award winning film production company he founded in 2008. Samir has worked on over a 100 film productions in different capacities in a career, now spanning over 25 years
"My keen interest in the art of film, photography & music along with my managerial & organisational skills drove me to believe that film production could encompass my key interests and strengths, thus allowing me to express myself in a wholesome, successful manner " says Samir who was born in Singapore and grew up in Pondicherry, a former French colony in India where he was educated at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. He further obtained a scholarship to study film production at the national film school of France, La FEMIS in Paris. He then trained himself in the field of advertising at Contract (a WPP group advertising agency).
Between 2018 & 2020 Samir produced 5 feature length films in 4 different Indian languages:
Arun Karthik's "Nasir" (Tamil), Samir's recent Indo Dutch feature film production has traveled to 32 international film festivals winning 11 awards till date. It has been rated as one of India's top 10 independent films for 2020. "Nasir" was nominated for the coveted Tiger Competition at the 49th International Film Festival of Rotterdam 2020 and went on to win it's prestigious Netpac Award. In 2021, it also won Fipresci India's Grand Prix award. The film received positive reviews from several international trade magazines including the Hollywood Reporter, Screen and Variety.
Samir's other feature Aditya Vikram Sengupta's critically acclaimed "Jonaki" (Bengali), an Indo French Singaporean co production also traveled to several international film festivals and won the Silver Gateway award at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in 2018. It is now streaming on Netflix.
"Kalla Nottam" (Malayalam), won Samir his first National Award in 2021. This experimental production also won the Best Indian Film award at the Kolkata International Film Festival 2020
A psychological horror movie "Nirvana Inn" (Hindi) starring Adil Hussain (Life of Pi) and "Harami" (Hindi) starring Emraan Hashmi are Samir's other feature film productions. Both films premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2019 & 2020 respectively.
Samir offered production support and consultancy on Ang Lee's Oscar winning feature film "Life of Pi" and was associated on the project for over 8 years, working with several reputed Hollywood directors attached to it including M Night Shyamalan & Jean Pierre Jeunet.
Samir, who speaks 7 languages, has played the pivotal roles of Executive and Line Producer on several international feature length projects including a feature film for ARTE (France): "Alexandra David Neel - J'irai au Pays des Neiges", "The Science of Compassion" a feature length documentary by internationally acclaimed director Shekhar Kapur, and a docu-drama "Kalachakra" featuring His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
His documentaries for National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, Channel News Asia and others have won him several accolades. "Danger Zone Kabul" directed by Aditya Thayi won of the Best Documentary at the Asian Television Awards in 2015. India's first Mega Factory episode for NGC featuring the "Hero" motorbike factory was produced by his company Magic Hour Films.
Samir has also produced TV commercial for several multinational brands such as Volkswagen, Honda, BMW, Nissan, Fiat, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Diageo, FedEx, PUBG Mobile amongst others. His TVC " Warrior Princess" for Forest Essentials won 2 awards at the Abbys in 2015.
Before taking on the role of an entrepreneur, Samir worked, for over 10 years, in several capacities, on diverse major productions in the Indian film industry (Bollywood) where he was closely associated with some of the finest names in the the industry including Shekhar Kapur, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Mani Rathnam, Santosh Sivan, M F Hussain, Farah Khan, Ram Gopal Varma, Shahji Karun, Nagesh Kukunoor amongst others. His flair for languages and his keen interest in travel also got him involved in important roles on several international advertising, documentary, and feature film projects including Gaumont's "Hanuman" and Pandora Films' "Samsara".
"My keen interest in the art of film, photography & music along with my managerial & organisational skills drove me to believe that film production could encompass my key interests and strengths, thus allowing me to express myself in a wholesome, successful manner " says Samir who was born in Singapore and grew up in Pondicherry, a former French colony in India where he was educated at the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. He further obtained a scholarship to study film production at the national film school of France, La FEMIS in Paris. He then trained himself in the field of advertising at Contract (a WPP group advertising agency).
Between 2018 & 2020 Samir produced 5 feature length films in 4 different Indian languages:
Arun Karthik's "Nasir" (Tamil), Samir's recent Indo Dutch feature film production has traveled to 32 international film festivals winning 11 awards till date. It has been rated as one of India's top 10 independent films for 2020. "Nasir" was nominated for the coveted Tiger Competition at the 49th International Film Festival of Rotterdam 2020 and went on to win it's prestigious Netpac Award. In 2021, it also won Fipresci India's Grand Prix award. The film received positive reviews from several international trade magazines including the Hollywood Reporter, Screen and Variety.
Samir's other feature Aditya Vikram Sengupta's critically acclaimed "Jonaki" (Bengali), an Indo French Singaporean co production also traveled to several international film festivals and won the Silver Gateway award at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in 2018. It is now streaming on Netflix.
"Kalla Nottam" (Malayalam), won Samir his first National Award in 2021. This experimental production also won the Best Indian Film award at the Kolkata International Film Festival 2020
A psychological horror movie "Nirvana Inn" (Hindi) starring Adil Hussain (Life of Pi) and "Harami" (Hindi) starring Emraan Hashmi are Samir's other feature film productions. Both films premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2019 & 2020 respectively.
Samir offered production support and consultancy on Ang Lee's Oscar winning feature film "Life of Pi" and was associated on the project for over 8 years, working with several reputed Hollywood directors attached to it including M Night Shyamalan & Jean Pierre Jeunet.
Samir, who speaks 7 languages, has played the pivotal roles of Executive and Line Producer on several international feature length projects including a feature film for ARTE (France): "Alexandra David Neel - J'irai au Pays des Neiges", "The Science of Compassion" a feature length documentary by internationally acclaimed director Shekhar Kapur, and a docu-drama "Kalachakra" featuring His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
His documentaries for National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, Channel News Asia and others have won him several accolades. "Danger Zone Kabul" directed by Aditya Thayi won of the Best Documentary at the Asian Television Awards in 2015. India's first Mega Factory episode for NGC featuring the "Hero" motorbike factory was produced by his company Magic Hour Films.
Samir has also produced TV commercial for several multinational brands such as Volkswagen, Honda, BMW, Nissan, Fiat, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Diageo, FedEx, PUBG Mobile amongst others. His TVC " Warrior Princess" for Forest Essentials won 2 awards at the Abbys in 2015.
Before taking on the role of an entrepreneur, Samir worked, for over 10 years, in several capacities, on diverse major productions in the Indian film industry (Bollywood) where he was closely associated with some of the finest names in the the industry including Shekhar Kapur, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Mani Rathnam, Santosh Sivan, M F Hussain, Farah Khan, Ram Gopal Varma, Shahji Karun, Nagesh Kukunoor amongst others. His flair for languages and his keen interest in travel also got him involved in important roles on several international advertising, documentary, and feature film projects including Gaumont's "Hanuman" and Pandora Films' "Samsara".
