Towfiq Islam

01 · The small room

It started in a small room in Dhaka during COVID, with a basic computer and a lot of time.

The world had gone quiet, so I taught myself video editing. My first video was about my own neighborhood, Khilgaon. It got a lot of views, and I remember the feeling: a rush I wanted to feel again. I was watching Sam Kolder, Ben TK, and JR Alli at the time, and I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted to make videos like theirs.

02 · Two ambitions

But I wasn't just a filmmaker in the making. In school I was a normal back bencher maybe, but in college something changed. I became the student who wanted a seat at a big tech company, so I joined North South University to study CSE.

Then came the hard part: chasing a CSE degree while keeping a production career alive. Two ambitions, one person, never enough hours.

03 · The work grows

The work kept growing. Projects with 10 Minute School. Collaborations with creators like Ayman Sadiq, Nafees Salim, Khalid Farhan, and Ratul Singha, which built my network and my confidence. Then a Standard Chartered Bank project, finished in one week, that came with a strong paycheck and a stronger push. After that, Lumas Creative grew to over 500 projects for brands like Robi, bKash, Grameenphone, Jamuna Group, Bashundhara Group, Anwar Group, and so on. I partnered with Khalid Farhan to build The Room, a premium podcast recording studio in Gulshan. And I turned the recording room into Bangladesh’s most famous and fully booked podcast studio.

04 · Why I do this

Somewhere along the way, I understood why I do this. We only get one life, but media production lets me live inside many. When I work with someone, I become a small part of their story, and through this industry I get to contribute to many different worlds, one frame at a time.

05 · Crossing borders

Now my story is crossing borders. I'm moving to Saudi Arabia for a one-year video production role, a new country, new stages, and a bigger frame to work with.

I'm still telling mine.

This is my story