Karim Amer (born November 10, 1983) is an Egyptian-American film producer and director. He worked onThe Square (2013) andThe Great Hack (2019);^[1] the former was the first Egyptian film to earn anAcademy Award nomination and went on to win threeEmmy Awards, while the latter got nominated for an Emmy and aBAFTA Award.^[2][3] In 2020, he produced and directedThe Vow, anHBO documentary series about the self-improvement group,NXIVM. In 2022, he produced and directedFlight/Risk forAmazon Studios, revolving around whistleblowers atBoeing.

Amer and filmmaking partnerJehane Noujaim^[4] met whilst she was filmingThe Square,^[5] which he went on to co-produce with her. That film is about theEgyptian Crisis up until 2013, starting with theEgyptian revolution of 2011 atTahrir Square. The film went on to win the Audience Award at theSundance Film Festival and theToronto Film Festival. It ultimately won threeEmmy Awards and was the first Egyptian film to get nominated for anAcademy Award.^[6][7]

Initially, Amer and Noujaim meant out to make a documentary revolving around theSony Pictures hack, however the film evolved and shifted course as they started looking at how people's minds have been hacked and changed, which led toThe Great Hack about theFacebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal. The film premiered atSundance Film Festival and went on to get nominated at theBAFTA and Emmy Awards, and won an award at theCinema Eye Honors.^{[8][9][10][11][4][12]} Additionally, Amer developedPersuasion Machines, a project exploringvirtual reality at theSundance Film Festival^[13]

In 2017, Amer teamed up withAngelina Jolie to produce Academy Award-nominated filmThe Breadwinner. In 2019, Amer also produced theGolden Globe-winning seriesRamy onHulu.^[14] The series went on to gain critical acclaim and was described as "an insightful and hilarious glimpse into the life of a Muslim American family."^[15] In the same year, Amer was an executive producer on the 2019HBO documentary filmRevolution Rent, which followsAndy Señor Jr. toCuba as he stages a production ofJonathan Larson’sRent, which marked the first American company of aBroadway musical there in more than half a century.^[16]

Amer directed the first season ofThe Vow, a documentary series revolving aroundNXIVM and its leaderKeith Raniere for HBO.^[17][18]The Washington Post,Entertainment Weekly, andThe Los Angeles Times listedThe Vow as one of the best series of 2020.^[19][20][21]

In 2021, Amer produced the narrative filmYou Resemble Me, which premiered at theVenice Film Festival. The film was written and directed by his sister,Dina Amer.^[22] It won the Audience Award at theRed Sea International Film Festival.^[23] It also won an unprecedented four awards at REC Tarragona, including the CineClub Jury Prize, the Young Jury Prize and the Audience Award.^[24]

In 2022, Amer directed alongsideFisher Stevens,The Lincoln Project focusing on the scandal-riddenorganization of the same name forShowtime.^[25]

In 2023, Amer directed and producedDefiant revolving around theRussian invasion of Ukraine, focusing onDmytro Kuleba and others fightingDisinformation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine,^[26] which will had its world premiere at the2023 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023.^[27]

In 2024, Amer directed the short filmThe Fake Mayor focusing on the effect ofdeepfakes in democracies, primarily focusing on an attack onSadiq Khan forZeteo.^[28]

In 2025, Amer served as a producer onAll That's Left Of You directed byCherien Dabis, which will have its world premiere at the2025 Sundance Film Festival.^[29]

Amer and Noujaim are developing a TV series "aimed at challenging perceptions of the Arab world as portrayed by such shows as Homeland and Tyrant".^[30] In addition to his 2022Amazon Prime Video documentaryFlight/Risk, Amer is set to produce a limited series also aboutBoeing’s controversial737 Max planes. The untitled project, which is now in early development atAmazon Studios, hails from Oscar-winning screenwriterChris Terrio and is expected to starJeremy Strong, who will headline and executive produce as well.^[31]

• Karim Amer atIMDb

• American documentary filmmakers
• Film directors from New York (state)
• English-language film directors
• American people of Egyptian descent
• Mass media people from Alexandria
• New York University alumni
• Living people
• 1983 births

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