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Amman Abbasi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amman Abbasi
Occupations
  • Film director
  • composer
  • editor
Years active2009–present
RelativesYousuf Abbasi (brother)[1]

Amman Abbasi is a Pakistani American writer, director, producer, editor and composer. He was named one of Filmmaker magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2016.[2] His debut feature, Dayveon (2017), premiered at the Sundance and Berlin international film festival and received two Independent Spirit Award nominations.[3][4]

His later work includes Yasmeen’s Element (2024), the score for The Exorcist: Believer (2023), and co-producing the 2026 Academy Award-nominated documentary short Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud.[5]

Early life and education

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Abbasi grew up in Paragould and Jonesboro before his family moved to Little Rock when he was nine; he attended Hall High School and completed his senior year at Little Rock Central High School.[6] He has cited the Dardenne brothers and Martin Scorsese as principal influences on his filmmaking.[6]

Career

[edit]

Documentary work

[edit]

Abbasi began his career in documentary filmmaking after dropping out of college. While in high school he met the documentarians Brent and Craig Renaud and worked with them as a cameraman on projects including their Chicago gang-violence documentary.[7] In 2011 he travelled to Haiti for The New York Times to cover the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake; the resulting short documentary received an Alfred I. duPont–Columbia Award.[8] He served as editor on the Renaud Brothers' series Last Chance High (2015), which was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding editing.[9] He also worked as director's assistant to David Gordon Green on Manglehorn (2014) and Our Brand Is Crisis (2015).[10]

In 2021, Abbasi directed Udaan, a short documentary commissioned as part of the Hindsight Project that follows Baneen Khan, a young woman from Karachi who relocates to rural Arkansas to begin studies at Black River Technical College.[11][12] Udaan premiered at AFI Docs in 2022.[13]

In 2026, Abbasi served as co-producer on Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, which was nominated for Best Documentary Short Film at the 2026 Academy Awards.[5]

Feature films

[edit]

Abbasi's debut feature, Dayveon, tells the story of a 13-year-old African-American boy in rural Wrightsville, Arkansas who falls in with a local gang following the death of his older brother. The film was developed through the IFP Narrative Lab and was executive-produced by David Gordon Green, James Schamus and Lisa Muskat.[14] Dayveon premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was an official selection at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival;[15] it received two nominations at the 33rd Independent Spirit Awards in 2018.[16]

Abbasi's second feature, Yasmeen's Element (2024), is a 76-minute drama set in the Hunza Valley of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. It had its world premiere at SXSW in March 2024 in the festival's Narrative Spotlight section,[17][18] and was subsequently screened at the 48th São Paulo International Film Festival.[19]

Music

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Abbasi's first credited score was for the 2009 documentary Warrior Champions: From Baghdad to Beijing.[3] He has scored both his own features, Dayveon and Yasmeen's Element, and his compositions have been used in films including The Wall (2010), Tragedy (2015), Shelter (2016) and Meth Storm (2017).[20] He served as music consultant on the Halloween film franchise, working on Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills (2021).[21]

In 2023, Abbasi co-composed the score for The Exorcist: Believer with David Wingo;[22][23] the score received a nomination for Best Original Score in a Horror Film at the 14th Hollywood Music in Media Awards.[24]

Filmography

[edit]
YearTitleDirectorComposerEditorNotes
2009Warrior Champions: From Baghdad to BeijingYesDocumentary
2014ManglehornDirector's assistant
2015Our Brand Is CrisisDirector's assistant
2015Last Chance HighYesDocumentary series; Emmy nomination
2017DayveonYesYesYesTwo Independent Spirit Award nominations
2018HalloweenMusic consultant
2021Halloween KillsMusic consultant
2021UdaanYesShort documentary
2023The Exorcist: BelieverYesCo-composer with David Wingo
2024Yasmeen's ElementYesYesFeature

Awards and nominations

[edit]
YearAwardCategoryWorkResult
201833rd Independent Spirit AwardsJohn Cassavetes Award and Kiehl's Someone to Watch Award[25]DayveonNominated
202314th Hollywood Music in Media AwardsBest Original Score in a Horror FilmThe Exorcist: BelieverNominated

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Szenher, James (17 June 2010). "Amman apart". Arkansas Times. Retrieved 7 May 2026.
  2. ↑ "Series: 25 New Faces of Film 2016". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  3. 1 2 Smittle, Stephanie (27 July 2016). "Amman Abbasi named among "25 New Faces of Independent Film"". Arkansas Times. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  4. ↑ Goldman, Russell (26 July 2016). "Amman Abbasi debut film 'Dayveon,' fostered by independent film vets, completes production – exclusive". IndieWire. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  5. 1 2 "SXSW 2025 Schedule | Film & TV Project". SXSW 2026 Schedule. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  6. 1 2 Koon, David (23 August 2018). "A Q&A with Amman Abbasi". Arkansas Times. Retrieved 6 May 2026.[citation needed]
  7. ↑ Roston, V. (2016). "Amman Abbasi". Filmmaker. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  8. ↑ "Amman Abbasi". Arkansas Cinema Society. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  9. ↑ "Amman Abbasi". Sundance Collab. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  10. ↑ "Amman Abbasi". American Film Showcase. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  11. ↑ Grajeda, Antoinette (2021). "Documentary highlights challenges, resiliency of Pakistani student moving to Arkansas". Arkansas Soul. Archived from the original on 16 January 2025. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  12. ↑ "Hindsight filmmaker: in 'Udaan,' Amman Abbasi illuminates Pakistani culture and US immigration process". Reel South. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  13. ↑ "AFI DOCS 2022: We Stay in the House". AFI Docs. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  14. ↑ Goldman, Russell (26 July 2016). "Amman Abbasi debut film 'Dayveon,' fostered by independent film vets, completes production – exclusive". IndieWire. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  15. ↑ Mitchell, Elvis (20 March 2018). "Amman Abbasi: 'Dayveon'". KCRW. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  16. ↑ "Amman Abbasi". Firelight Media. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  17. ↑ Smittle, Stephanie (24 February 2024). "Arkansas filmmaker Amman Abbasi's latest debuts at SXSW". Arkansas Times. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  18. ↑ "Yasmeen's Element". South by Southwest. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  19. ↑ "O Elemento de Yasmeen" (in Portuguese). Mostra Internacional de Cinema em São Paulo. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  20. ↑ "Meth Storm (2017)". FilmAffinity. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  21. ↑ "Amman Abbasi". American Film Showcase. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  22. ↑ Newby, Richard (5 October 2023). "Demonic instruments: the art of the score with The Exorcist: Believer composers". Fangoria. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  23. ↑ "One song, five alarms: The Exorcist's theme song "Tubular Bells" still holds up 50 years later". Syfy. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  24. ↑ Grein, Paul (2 November 2023). "Songs from 'Barbie' pace 2023 Hollywood Music in Media Awards nominations (full list)". Billboard. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  25. ↑ "33RD FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED". Film Independent. 21 November 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2026.
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