Movers and Shakers, The Monster Makers

Ed Symonds is a film editor many years past his prime. Regarding the “magic” of movie-making with increasing cynicism, he observes the characters around him with detachment, indulging in thoughts best kept to himself.

Tariq Anwar is a film editor with a similarly jaundiced view of the industry, and he uncannily shares a lifetime of experiences somewhat similar to Ed’s.

Unlike Ed, he doesn’t keep his thoughts to himself.

In a career spanning 50 years, Tariq has worked with the good, the bad and the sometimes ugly, and they all, with some degree of artistic licence, find themselves in this book. With contributions to many award winning TV productions and films including The Madness of King George, American Beauty and The King’s Speech, Tariq draws on his experiences to take an irreverent look into the feudal nature of an industry where deference abounds and into the increasingly precarious and misunderstood role of the editor.

Tariq Anwar was born in New Delhi to an Austrian mother, Edith Reich, and Indian father, Rafiq Anwar. At the age of five, following the separation of his parents, he returned, with his mother and elder sister, Farida, to live with his Austrian grandparents in Southall, England. His secondary education was at Walpole Grammar School, Ealing, and Sir John Cass College, Aldgate. Leaving college after only one year, he started a fifty-year career in the film and television industry. He has a brother, Peter, wife, Shirley, two children, Dominic and Gabrielle and four grandchildren: Willow, Hugo, Paisley and Storm.