Amirul Arham – Filmmaker, Producer, Screenwriter & Poet
Etoile de la SCAM Award-Winning Filmmaker.
Originally from Bangladesh and based in Paris since 1985, Amirul Arham is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, screenwriter, and poet. He began his cinematic journey at the Dhaka Film Archive and Institute and later studied film direction under Jean Rouch, the legendary ethnographic filmmaker and pioneer of Cinéma Vérité.
Arham has directed numerous acclaimed documentaries. His film Social Business, co-produced with Public Sénat Television, was selected for the Cannes Film Festival (Cinéma Positive parallel section) and released in Parisian cinemas. A Banker for the Poor, the first feature-length documentary on Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, aired on the Canal+ European network and is now part of the French Foreign Ministry’s collection.
Other notable works include The Devil’s Water (France 5 & France 3), The Lost Souls of Bangladesh (France 2 and other European broadcasters), and Shamsur Rahman: A Pen Against the Gun (90 min), all of which received recognition and awards from international film festivals, including the Terra Film Festival and Niamey Film Festival.

Arham is currently developing several new projects, including the feature documentary A Poverty-Free World, What About the Rohingyas?, and a feature fiction film titled My Mother’s Dream.
As a screenwriter, his standout works include Professor’s Dream (based on Prof. Muhammad Yunus), Eviction, and My Mother’s Secret.

In addition to his film work, Arham is a published poet. His collections include Let Your Ears Be Heard (2023, Dhaka), The Shadow of the Sea in Your Eyes (2018, bilingual Bengali–French, Paalam Publications), and The Drenching in the Rain (1998). In 2000, he translated and edited selected poems by Shamsur Rahman into French and organized the poet’s participation in a cultural week celebrating Bangladesh in Paris and Noisiel.

Amirul Arham is also the author of several essays on art, culture, and cinema. His multidisciplinary career reflects a lifelong commitment to storytelling, cultural dialogue, and social justice.