PlayRaw Beauty of Kashmir
Director, Cinematographer, Editor.
Filmmaker · India
Shameem Ahmed
Director, cinematographer and editor. His short films, documentaries and journey films are concerned with places, the people in them, and the systems that shape both.
Featured film
Humanoid
Cinematographer (with Adnan Taque Ahmad), Editor, Sound Designer. Directed by Adnan Taque Ahmad.
A silent science-fiction short about how modern systems shape human behaviour. Humanoid asks how much of what we think, decide, and want is still our own, and how much has quietly been decided for us. Winner at the Tagore International Film Festival 2021, with official selections across India and Istanbul.
- Narrative · Sci-Fi, Drama
- 2022
- 9 min 55 sec
- Shameem Ahmed
- Adnan Taque Ahmad
Humanoid · Recognition
Shameem Ahmed: cinematographer, editor and sound designer. Directed by Adnan Taque Ahmad.
Winner at Tagore International Film Festival, 2021.
Approach
Films that attend to what is easily overlooked.
Shameem Ahmed works with real locations, available light and natural sound. Narration is kept to a minimum so that the image carries the meaning. Whether the form is fiction, documentary or journey, the work stays with people and with the experience of a place, rather than its surface.
Places
Real locations, filmed in available light and in whatever conditions they present.
People
Small crews, considered conversations and honest reactions.
Stories
Fiction, documentary or journey, each one built around a single human question.
Selected works
Fiction, documentary and visual study.
Play3 min 23 sec
PlayLast Ember
Director, Cinematographer, Editor.
Director of Photography
The
Unknowing
A psychological thriller directed by Adnan Taque Ahmad, photographed by Shameem Ahmed with Ahmad Raza. A vigilante, a city that hears only a whistle, and a mind coming apart from within.
Journeys
Places, recorded with patience.
Solo films from Kashmir, Darjeeling and Sikkim, each published with the notes, frames and technical details that surrounded it.
Snowbound roads, changing weather and the small human scale within a vast landscape.
Read the field notes
Visual archive
Selected frames.
Journal
Notes on craft and ideas.
Writing on filmmaking practice (blocking, light, sound, lenses and the edit) and on the ideas behind the films.
Tracking Shots Without a Dolly
Move with a person using a simple camera setup, plan a safe path, and leave room for stabilisation without expecting it to rescue every bump.
The Over the Shoulder Shot and When It Works
A shoulder in the foreground can connect two people, but it can also hide the scene. Learn how to choose the angle, keep eyelines clear, and cut to a clean single.
What Is a LUT and When You Should Not Use One
A LUT changes colours using a fixed set of values. Learn the difference between a camera conversion and a creative look, and use either without doubling the effect.
Tools
A video editor, designed and built by a filmmaker.
Shameem Ahmed designed and built the Cinemadio Editor, a free video editor that runs in the browser. No account is required, and footage is never uploaded.
Explore the toolsAvailable now · Free
Cinemadio Editor
A private video editor in the browser, with no account, no upload and no watermark. Cut, grade, caption and export while every file stays on the user's computer.
See the editor
About
Over a decade behind the camera and in the edit.
Shameem Ahmed has made films since school, across short fiction, documentary, journey films, music videos and commissioned work. He usually photographs and edits his own films, and works closely with a small group of trusted collaborators.
The archive
The complete archive is available to view.
The complete film archive may be viewed here. New travel films and documentaries are published on YouTube.