Ambarien Alqadar
- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Ambarien Alqadar is media practitioner, filmmaker and writer who grew
up in New Delhi, India during the 1990s. An earlier part of her
childhood was spent in Africa while her parents moved between Benghazi,
Libya and Tripoli as her father taught at various Universities. Born
into a conservative middle class Muslim family meant very limited
opportunities to view Cinema and so she grew to associate the act movie
watching with active strategies of resistance, desire and subversion.
In 2009 she joined The Temple University, Film and Media Arts Programme, USA through The Fulbright Scholarship Programme. With a background in English Literature and Modern European Languages and formal training in documentary and classical Indian Cinema, Ambarien approaches the notion of 'documentary' and 'fiction' as a constellation of strategies rather than fixed forms. Her work is experimental in its concern that introducing a camera inhabited by people in flesh and blood is never an objective act. Drawing from feminist traditions of Performance and articulations of female subjectivity, Ambarien's documentaries are a dense texts of re-enactment, observation and narration. Some of her award winning films include Ghetto Girl (2011)_ , Four Women and a Room (Public Service Broadcasting Trust, 2008, Indian Documentary Producers Association Silver Award for Excellence), Who Can Speak of Men (Berlin Gay and Lesbian Film festival 2005; British Film Institute, Special Mention, 2005; ) and Elsewhere (International Digital Fest, Mumbai, Best Documentary Gold 2005).Her films have been screened in national and international festivals and have been critically acclaimed for the ways they tell stories about people and places. Ambarien is also an alumni of the prestigious AJK Mass Communication Research Center, New Delhi, India where she briefly taught Video, Editing and Writing.
Tracing the idea of storytelling to the classic narration of childhood fantasy tales, Ambarien is attracted towards an idea of Cinema that is psychologically driven, intimate, intellectually seductive and border crossing between genres and technologies. Thus writing fictional character sketches based on her earlier documentaries and autobiographical material is an important part of her process of making work. This stage is followed by a more active process of screen writing, collaboration and direction. A Diary Scattered in Time and Place (2011)_ and Detainee 209 mark the beginnings of her experiments with fictional forms.
Ambarien has extensive experience on fund-raising, production management and editing as she has line produced, co-directed, assisted and edited for some of India's most well known filmmakers. One of her most memorable associations grew out of to her work in the production department of Silent Waters (2003)_. Since then, she has been very lucky to have mentors and friends who have guided her and loved her so much.
In 2009 she joined The Temple University, Film and Media Arts Programme, USA through The Fulbright Scholarship Programme. With a background in English Literature and Modern European Languages and formal training in documentary and classical Indian Cinema, Ambarien approaches the notion of 'documentary' and 'fiction' as a constellation of strategies rather than fixed forms. Her work is experimental in its concern that introducing a camera inhabited by people in flesh and blood is never an objective act. Drawing from feminist traditions of Performance and articulations of female subjectivity, Ambarien's documentaries are a dense texts of re-enactment, observation and narration. Some of her award winning films include Ghetto Girl (2011)_ , Four Women and a Room (Public Service Broadcasting Trust, 2008, Indian Documentary Producers Association Silver Award for Excellence), Who Can Speak of Men (Berlin Gay and Lesbian Film festival 2005; British Film Institute, Special Mention, 2005; ) and Elsewhere (International Digital Fest, Mumbai, Best Documentary Gold 2005).Her films have been screened in national and international festivals and have been critically acclaimed for the ways they tell stories about people and places. Ambarien is also an alumni of the prestigious AJK Mass Communication Research Center, New Delhi, India where she briefly taught Video, Editing and Writing.
Tracing the idea of storytelling to the classic narration of childhood fantasy tales, Ambarien is attracted towards an idea of Cinema that is psychologically driven, intimate, intellectually seductive and border crossing between genres and technologies. Thus writing fictional character sketches based on her earlier documentaries and autobiographical material is an important part of her process of making work. This stage is followed by a more active process of screen writing, collaboration and direction. A Diary Scattered in Time and Place (2011)_ and Detainee 209 mark the beginnings of her experiments with fictional forms.
Ambarien has extensive experience on fund-raising, production management and editing as she has line produced, co-directed, assisted and edited for some of India's most well known filmmakers. One of her most memorable associations grew out of to her work in the production department of Silent Waters (2003)_. Since then, she has been very lucky to have mentors and friends who have guided her and loved her so much.