Duraid Munajim
Encyclopedia
Duraid Munajim is a Toronto
-based film director
and a freelance cinematographer
.
in 1972 to an Iraqi
father and Iranian
mother, Duraid was 17 years of age when his family immigrated to Canada
. He began studying anthropology at Vanier College, Montreal but had later received his BFA in film production in 1997 from Concordia University, in Montreal
in which he made his thesis film, Tempus Fugit.
His work has been screened in festivals around the world, including IDFA in Amsterdam, Dokfest in Munich, as well as festivals in Switzerland, Lebanon, France, and across the U.S. and Canada.
Duraid's most recent film, "what I've lost", is an short documentary that has screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, Montreal Nouveau film fest, Gulf Film Festival and others. exile & empire: 20 shorts on Iraq, is an experimental 'essay-driven' documentary on Iraq, past and up to the U.S. invasion of 2003, told through a series of short films.
In 2007 Duraid worked as one of the principal camera operators on The Hurt Locker
, which ended up winning multiple awards internationally, including Best Picture at the 2010 Oscar awards.
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
-based film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and a freelance cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
.
Career
Born in KuwaitKuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
in 1972 to an Iraqi
Iraqi people
The Iraqi people or Mesopotamian people are natives or inhabitants of the country of Iraq, known since antiquity as Mesopotamia , with a large diaspora throughout the Arab World, Europe, the Americas, and...
father and Iranian
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...
mother, Duraid was 17 years of age when his family immigrated to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He began studying anthropology at Vanier College, Montreal but had later received his BFA in film production in 1997 from Concordia University, in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
in which he made his thesis film, Tempus Fugit.
His work has been screened in festivals around the world, including IDFA in Amsterdam, Dokfest in Munich, as well as festivals in Switzerland, Lebanon, France, and across the U.S. and Canada.
Duraid's most recent film, "what I've lost", is an short documentary that has screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, Montreal Nouveau film fest, Gulf Film Festival and others. exile & empire: 20 shorts on Iraq, is an experimental 'essay-driven' documentary on Iraq, past and up to the U.S. invasion of 2003, told through a series of short films.
In 2007 Duraid worked as one of the principal camera operators on The Hurt Locker
The Hurt Locker
The Hurt Locker is a 2009 American war film about a three-man United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team during the Iraq War. The film was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and the screenplay was written by Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was embedded as a journalist in 2004 with a US bomb...
, which ended up winning multiple awards internationally, including Best Picture at the 2010 Oscar awards.
Selected filmography
- Son of Babylon (2010)
- The Hurt Locker (2009) (camera operator)
- Les jeux d'enfants (2008)
- What I've Lost (2008)
- Next: A Primer on Urban Painting (2005)
- Lower East Side Stories (2005)
- Acrobats and Maniacs (2004) (TV)
- All the Ships at Sea (2004)
- Rings (2004)
- Fire Watch (2003)
- 19. (2003)
- Solo (2003)
- Entre-temps à Beyrouth (2002)