Writer and director Kamar Ahmad Simon was declared the winner of the 9th edition of Asian Pitch, which is his second time. The event was held in Singapore. Medicorp, the foremost group of commercial media companies from Singapore, recently confirmed the win in a letter.
Four leading Asian television channels (NHK from Japan, KBS from South Korea, PTS from Taiwan and Mediacorp from Singapore) organise the competition every year, where original documentary pitches by the Asian filmmakers are awarded. This year, Kamar won the award for his new docu-drama script titled “Neel Shirostran (Blue Helmet).” The four organising companies will be funding the entire production, screening the film in their prime-time slots and initiate the international marketing-distribution once the film is completed.
Kamar said: “Winning for the second time is certainly a matter of joy. But with every win, expectation rises. But I am enjoying this!”
In 2013 Kamar won the Asian Pitch for his script titled “Ekti Sutar Jobanbondi (Testimony of a Thread).” The film was highly acclaimed after being broadcasted on NHK in June this year and is scheduled to be screened on the rest of the three channels later this year. Kamar is also planning to screen the film here in Bangladesh. The aim of Asian Pitch is to discover talents in Asian and present them to the world with their compelling human stories. This year 135 scripts were submitted from 12 countries, of which ten selected ones were invited to present their ideas in Singapore. Apart from Bangladesh, the other winning films are from India and China. Earlier this year Kamar’s first feature “Shunte Ki Pao! (Are You Listening!)” won the National Award and has already been awarded in 10 international competitions including “Grand Prix” in Paris and “Golden Conch” in Mumbai.