Suroosh Alvi

Suroosh Alvi (Urdu: سروش علوی‎; born 26 March 1969) is a Pakistani-Canadian journalist and filmmaker. He is the co-founder of Vice Media, a youth media brand operating in more than 50 countries.[1][2] Alvi is a travelled journalist and an executive producer of film, covering global youth culture, news, and music. He has hosted and produced award-winning documentaries investigating controversial issues, movements, and subcultures, including conflict minerals in the Congo, the Iraq War, and the rise of the Pakistani Taliban and global terrorism.[3][4]

Suroosh Alvi
Alvi in 2016
Born (1969-03-26) 26 March 1969
Toronto, Ontario
NationalityCanadian
Alma materMcGill University
OccupationJournalist
Known forCo-founder of VICE magazine

Early life

Suroosh Alvi was born in Toronto, Ontario to Pakistani parents,[5] both of whom are academics; his mother is Sajida S. Alvi, whose focus is on Islamic Studies and Mughal history,[6] and who is now professor emerita at McGill University,[7] and his father is Sabir A. Alvi, professor emeritus in psychology at the University of Toronto.[6][8] Alvi studied philosophy at McGill University.[9]

Career

Suroosh Alvi launched VICE with Shane Smith and Gavin McInnes in Montreal in 1994.[10] Originally a punk magazine, VICE has expanded to include a network of digital properties, including VICE.com, TheCreatorsProject.com, Motherboard.tv and Noisey.com as well as a cable and OTT network, a record label, an in-house creative services agency and a book publishing division. Today VICE produces dozens of original video series, covering news, travel, music, arts, fashion and food, and has a network of correspondents and bureaus.[11] As a journalist, Alvi has reported for VICE on HBO and VICE News, which together have received both Emmy and Peabody awards.[12][13]

In 2014, Alvi served as a guest curator for the PHI Centre in Montreal and oversaw a month's worth of programming.[10]

VICE Reporting

In 2006, as VICE was expanding from magazine publishing to video reporting, Suroosh Alvi reported a segment on the "Gun Markets of Pakistan."[6][14] Since then, Suroosh Alvi has covered stories from around the world, reporting from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Gaza Strip.[15][16][17][18] He has produced and hosted documentaries for VICE on HBO, VICE News and VICE Travel series. In 2017, VICE launched a multi-part series hosted by Alvi examining "the origins and impact of the world's deadliest terrorist organizations: al Qaeda in Yemen, al Shabaab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria, the Tehrik-i-Taliban in Pakistan and the Islamic State in Iraq."[19] In 2020, "The VICE Guide to Iran" was released, hosted by Alvi. In the feature-length documentary Alvi interviews ordinary Iranians about life under international sanctions. He also interviewed Parliament member Hussein Sheikholeslam, one of the students involved in the Iran Hostage Crisis who would die as a result of COVID-19 infection in March, before the documentary's release.[20]

VICE Music

In 2002, Alvi created VICE Music, the company's record label which has partnered with over 50 artists and sold more than 7 million albums worldwide. Clients have included Snoop Lion, Action Bronson, Black Lips, Justice, Chromeo, The Streets, Bloc Party, and Death From Above 1979. In 2011, Alvi launched a partnership between VICE Music and Warner Bros. Records.[21][22]

VICE Film

In 2007, Alvi co-directed and executive produced the VICE Film, Heavy Metal in Baghdad - a documentary that follows the Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda from the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 to the present day. The film was an official selection at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2008 Berlin Film Festival, and it was named Best Documentary at the 2008 Warsaw Film Festival.[23]

In 2012, Alvi travelled to Jamaica with VICE where he produced the feature-length film, REINCARNATED, featuring Snoop Lion, along with director Andy Capper. The film was accepted at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and had its US premiere at the 2013 SXSW festival.[24]

Personal life

Alvi resides in New York City. He is married,[25] and has a son.[6]

Filmography
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Alvi has producer, executive producer, writer or director credits on a range of documentary films, documentary shorts and television series.[26]

Television
  • The Vice Guide to Everything (2010)
  • Vice Meets (2011)
  • Upgrade (2011)
  • Epicly Later'd (2011)
  • Dalston Superstars (2011)
  • Powder and Rails (2011)
  • The Vice Guide to Travel (2011)
  • Picture Perfect (2011)
  • Art Talk (2011)
  • Motherboard (2011)
  • Behind the Seams (2012)
  • Discotecture (2012)
  • Far Out (2012)
  • Vice (2013)
  • Vice News (2014)
  • Vice News: Russian Roulette — the Invasion of Ukraine (2014)
  • Abandonware (2015)
  • Moj Sport (2015)
  • Cut-Off (2016)
  • Fuck, That's Delicious (2016)
  • Vice Essentials Canada (2016)
  • Tattoo Age (2017)
  • Vice News: Terror (2017)
  • World of Vice (2017)

Documentaries

Feature-length

  • Heavy Metal in Baghdad (2006)
  • Heavy Metal in Istanbul (2008)
  • North Korean Film Madness (2010)
  • Aokigahara: Suicide Forest (2011)
  • The Vice Guide to Congo (2011)
  • Toxic Amazon (2011)
  • Reincarnated (2012)
  • Lil Bub and Friendz (2013)
  • Svddxnly (2014)
  • Cocaine and Crude (2014)
  • Shelter (2016)
  • VICE Guide to Iran (2020)

Shorts

  • Gun Markets of Pakistan (2006)
  • Tokoloshe (2010)
  • Life after Bin Laden in Pakistan (2011)
  • Tokyo Rising (2011)
  • The Rebels of Libya (2011)
  • Rule Britannia: The British Wrester (2012)
  • Vice Guide to Karachi: Battle of Lyari (2012)
  • Cowboy Capitalists (2013)
  • The Vice Podcast Show (2013)
  • In Saddam's Shadow: Baghdad 10 Years After the Invasion (2013)
  • Korean Poo Wine (2013)
  • The Elmore B&S Ball (2013)
  • My Life Online: The Grim Loner (2014)
  • Blood Debt (2014)
  • Rooted (2015)
  • Inside the Monkey Lab (2015)
  • Inside the Superhuman World of the Iceman (2015)
  • Blast Fishing in Montenegro (2015)
  • Valley of the Islamic Dolls (2015)
  • Kanabis Ismedju Bola i Zakona (2015)
  • Krivolovci: Hunting for Poachers in Siberia (2015)
  • Svet Suspenzija/World of Suspension (2015)
  • Izvan Granica Seksa (2016)
  • Behind the Zero Line (2016)
  • Making Contact (2017)
  • Vice Talks Week with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (2017)
  • Turbotronik (2017)
  • Izpravljanie Krivine (2017)

References
  1. Brownstein, Bill (30 November 2000). Sex Carnival. ECW Press. pp. 79–. ISBN 978-1-55022-415-3. Retrieved 22 April 2011.
  2. Jaafar, Ali (22 June 2016). "Vice Media's Viceland To Launch In More Than 50 New Countries". Deadline. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  3. "Inside the world's deadliest terror groups". NewsComAu. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  4. Alvi, Suroosh (7 July 2011). "Life after bin Laden in Pakistan". CNN. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  5. Spike Jonze Spends Saturday with Shane Smith, VICE, retrieved 12 June 2013
  6. "Ex Heroin Addict Turned Media Mogul, Outlook - BBC World Service". BBC.
  7. introduction, Persian text with; translation; Alvi, notes by Sajida Sultana (1989). Advice on the art of governance : an Indo-Islamic mirror for princes : Mauʻiẓah-i Jahāngīrī of Muḥammad Bāqir Najm-i S̲ānī. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. x. ISBN 0887069185.
  8. "OISE: Retired Faculty". OISE. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  9. Wisenthal, Lucas. "From Welfare to Media Empire". McGill News. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  10. Dunlevy, T'cha (29 March 2013). "VICE Knows No Boundaries". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  11. "Inside Vice's Effort to Reinvent The Evening News - The Bridge". The Bridge. 26 February 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  12. Pedersen, Erik (6 October 2017). "PBS & CBS Lead The Field Again At News & Documentary Emmys: Complete Winners List". Deadline. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  13. "The Islamic State". Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  14. "VICE Magazine Co-Founder Suroosh Alvi". CBC Radio. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  15. "Watch: 'Crime And Punishment' In The Gaza Strip Revealed". HuffPost UK. 28 February 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  16. "The VICE Guide to Congo". Vice. 6 October 2011. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  17. VICE News (6 June 2014), VICE on HBO Debrief: Heroin Warfare, retrieved 16 November 2017
  18. Dunlevy, T'Cha (1 April 2013). "VICE knows no boundaries with HBO show". canada.com. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  19. "Our New Special 'TERROR' Investigates the Five Deadliest Terrorist Groups". Vice. 15 September 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  20. Chitty, Alex; Burghart, Jake (15 April 2020). "Behind the Scenes of the VICE Guide to Iran". Vice.com.
  21. Hampp, Andrew (22 November 2011). "Vice Launches Three-Year Global Partnership With Warner Bros. Records". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 October 2016 – via BillboardBiz.
  22. Hampp, Andrew (22 November 2011). "Vice Launches Three-Year Global Partnership With Warner Bros. Records". BillboardBiz. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  23. "Heavy Metal in Baghdad". Heavy Metal in Baghdad. 2007. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  24. Appelo, Tim (26 September 2012). "Filmmakers on Snoop Dogg's Jamaican Reincarnation". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  25. Salisbury, Vanita (9 December 2014). "21 Questions with Suroosh Alvi". New York Magazine. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  26. "Suroosh Alvi". Vice. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
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