Bouha Kazmi

**Bouha Kazmi** is an award-winning London-based director. He is a graduate of Central Saint Martins and was headhunted during his third year by the Design Lab and Carat agency in London.

## Early Life

He spent his childhood in Cyprus and his teenage years in the US. His parents were always supportive of his choices and anything that he was interested in. He was somewhat reluctant to share with them his eventual intentions, especially since he had initially lead them to believe that he was contemplating law school. They never pushed him down a specific career path and without their encouragement, things would have turned out very differently. Neither of them came from a creative background and the extent of their artistry was in all likelihood limited to doodling during phone calls.

## Career

His career started with photography at an early age. His cousin used to teach it. One day, out of mind-numbing boredom, he pestered him enough until he gave me an ultimatum; only chance in hell he would have of holding his prized camera, would be to sit and listen to tedious talk of aperture, ISO and shutter speed, for days on end. Boredom lead to avocation, avocation and a love of film eventually progressed things to motion and most of the early filmmaking discovery took place during college.

He has worked both agency and production side, acting as creative director for London-based production company Flynn before joining Independent and Indy8. Bouha had his directorial debut working with multi-award winning director Sam Brown as second unit director for Jay-Z’s ‘On To The Next One’, a music video that has garnered numerous awards on both sides of the Atlantic.

He directed the visually striking music video ‘Pillowtalk’ for Zayn Malik. It was the most viewed video on the internet on the day of its release, gaining an astonishing 10 million views overnight and featuring in over fifty articles including Rolling Stone, Time, Vogue, Forbes, Vanity Fair, GQ, The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal. The video has since amassed 650+ million views.

Bouha’s video for Jamie Lawson’s double-platinum single ‘Wasn’t Expecting That’ marked the premiere release from global superstar Ed Sheeran’s new Gingerbread Man Records label. The beautifully crafted, tender film boasts a combination of great performances and gorgeous visuals, with a simple narrative exploring the ups and downs of a couple’s life together.

His music video for The Ramona Flowers’ single ‘Tokyo’ earned him a Young Director Award nomination at Cannes in 2014. The video won Best Music Video at the Oscars and BAFTA-accredited Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, followed by six other awards and Official Selection at fourteen film festivals worldwide.

Bouha’s short film, ‘Flicker,’ was nominated for a Young Director Award at Cannes in 2013 and was in Competition and Official Selection at a host of festivals including Raindance Film Festival, London Short Film Festival, Aesthetica Short Film Festival, and Bornshorts Film Festival.

## Awards and Nominations

### 2013

* Cannes Lions - Nominated for Young Director Award
* Raindance Film Festival - UK Premiere
* Aesthetica Short Film Festival - Official Selection

### 2014

* Cannes Lions - Nominated for Young Director Award
* Ciclope Festival - Nominated Best Music Video
* Los Angeles International Short Film Festival - Winner
* Miami Short Film Festival - Winner
* Moondance International Film Festival - Winner
* Los Angeles Movie Awards - Winner
* Los Angeles Music Video Festival - Finalist
* Bornshorts Film Festival - Nominated for Best Music Video
* London Short Film Festival - Official Selection
* Sunscreen Film Festival - Official Selection
* Miami Short Film Festival - Official Selection

### 2016

* Shots Awards - Nominated for Best New Director
* MTV Video Music Awards - Nominated Best VFX
* iHeartRadio MMVAs - Nominated Best Intl. Artist

## External Links

* Independent page
* Lut! Med!a page
* Luti Media Twitter