Amar Somaroo
Directing
Biography
Amar Somaroo (born September 1, 1995) is a Dutch film director, writer, and editor of South Asian descent. His work explores themes of diaspora identity, migration, existentialism, and cultural fragmentation through visually immersive and psychologically driven storytelling. He is best known for the composite drama Cyanide (2021), the autobiographical documentary The Place I Call Home (2022), and the television pilot Exodus (2025). Born in The Hague to Indian-Surinamese parents, Somaroo developed a passion for storytelling during his early teens. In 2014, at the age of 18, he became one of the youngest published authors in Dutch history with the release of his debut fantasy novel The Redemption Tales: Tibet. After studying film directing and editing at Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam, he founded the production company Youth Novel Motions in 2017. Somaroo began his filmmaking career with the short film Feathers (2015) and later directed A Woman in Kurdistan (2017), exploring women’s freedoms in Kurdistan from a unique perspective. Alongside narrative filmmaking, he has directed commercial and corporate films for clients including the Dutch Ministry of Defense and worked on productions across South Asia and the Middle East. In 2022, The Place I Call Home was nominated for Best Documentary at the Septimius Awards, while both the documentary and Cyanide were acquired by Amazon Prime Video. In 2025, he developed and directed Exodus for Dutch public broadcasters NPO and VPRO, earning a nomination for Best Short Fiction at the Jaipur International Film Festival 2026.
Known For
In search of his ancestral roots, filmmaker Amar Somaroo explores the story of Dina Somaroo, a young boy from India deceived by colonial promises of prosperity in Suriname. Through archival footage and reflections from the Netherlands, the film examines the complex legacy of diaspora-displacement, fragmented identity, and the duality of belonging.
Abiogenesis
A forced diversity mandate disrupts an elite Dutch school, pushing two student worlds into collision. As status games turn hostile and buried tensions erupt, identity becomes a battlefield where belonging must be earned.
Exodus
A house party spirals into chaos when a group of teenagers overdose, turning a night of freedom and escape into total collapse.
Feathers
Follows the 5-year journey of filmmaker Amar Somaroo, in a ruminating quest to explore the correlation between his Indian-Surinamese roots, and global perceptions of what defines 'home'.
The Place I Call Home
When Hindustani Milan develops feelings for Syrian refugee Ahmed, it puts a strain on his family life. Their differences in opinions and perspectives come to light when Milan chooses for himself. This leads to an explosive situation.
Outsiders
Six intertwined stories delve into social and political dilemmas in Dutch society surrounding a cluster of millennials.
Cyanide
A dreamlike self-portrait capturing the transition into adulthood, where questions of identity, heritage, intimacy, and belonging unfold through memories, friendships, and reflections on life.
21
Follows a young Kurdish woman in Iraqi Kurdistan reflecting on freedom, identity, and womanhood, as she navigates the contrast between personal ambition and cultural expectations.
A Woman in Kurdistan
A dreamlike portrait of a young woman whose presence awakens feelings of longing, cultural displacement, and distant memories of home.
Anarkali
A fractured soul, suspended between death and existence, drifts unnoticed through the world of the living while desperately clinging to fragments of identity, redemption, and the fading illusion of human connection.
Unredeeemed
A young novelist struggles to escape the shadow of her bestselling debut while slipping into an increasingly fragmented psychological state, where inspiration and reality become impossible to separate.