# Aidan Zamiri
**Aidan Zamiri** (born 1995) is a Scottish photographer and film director known for music videos, fashion campaigns, and the 2026 feature film *The Moment*, his directorial debut. Glasgow-born and London-based, he came to prominence in the early-to-mid 2020s directing videos for Charli xcx, [Billie Eilish](https://www.edgepedia.org/billie-eilish), and FKA twigs, and shooting album covers and editorials for artists including [PinkPantheress](https://www.edgepedia.org/pinkpantheress) and [Caroline Polachek](https://www.edgepedia.org/caroline-polachek).[1](https://www.creativereview.co.uk/aidan-zamiri-the-moment-charli-xcx-thimothee-chalamet-film/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1995, United Kingdom; Glasgow-raised, London-based[2](https://www.imdb.com/pt/name/nm11789308/) • [3](https://www.dazeddigital.com/projects/article/48851/1/aidan-zamiri-photographer-filmmaker-biography-dazed-100-2020-profile) |
| Training | Graphic design at Central Saint Martins, London, graduated 2017[4](https://shotby.tv/aidan-zamiri) |
| First break | A hyperactive green screen video for Nike in 2018 allowed him to direct full time[5](https://www.promonews.tv/interviews/work-life-qa-aidan-zamiri/66291) |
| Signature videos | Charli xcx "360" (2024, Grammy-nominated) and "Guess" with Billie Eilish (2024)[6](https://artreview.com/the-interview-aidan-zamiri-the-moment/) • [4](https://shotby.tv/aidan-zamiri) |
| Feature debut | *The Moment* (2026), a Charli xcx mockumentary co-written with Bertie Brandes, produced by A24; world premiere at Sundance 2026[7](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-moment2) |
| Photography record | 15 recorded projects, 2021–2026, including campaigns for H&M, Nike, and Calvin Klein[8](https://model-scouting.com/people/aidan-zamiri) |
| Recognition | Dazed 100 (2020); British Fashion Council New Wave Creative[9](https://www.larkcreative.tv/directors/profile/aidan-zamiri) |
## Early life and training
Zamiri grew up in a suburb of Glasgow, the son of an Iranian mother and a Scottish-Irish father. He has described suburbia as "a strange mix of loneliness and hopefulness" where "you spend a lot of time being bored and a lot of time dreaming."[4](https://shotby.tv/aidan-zamiri) He took his professional surname from his grandmother's maiden name, partly because Zamiri was easier to find in a search than his birth surname.[4](https://shotby.tv/aidan-zamiri)
He studied graphic design at [Central Saint Martins](https://www.edgepedia.org/central-saint-martins) in London, graduating in 2017, and has said the discipline still shapes how he thinks about visuals and text.[4](https://shotby.tv/aidan-zamiri) • [10](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/how-aidan-zamiri-made-the-music-video-essential-again) The camera arrived indirectly: a year or two after graduating, the head of his course asked him to film fellow students for a mini documentary series, and someone who saw that series hired him to do the same for [Victoria Beckham](https://www.edgepedia.org/victoria-beckham). For about six months he followed her family across Europe and the Middle East, a job he credits with teaching him "the mechanics of fame."[4](https://shotby.tv/aidan-zamiri) A green screen video for Nike in 2018 then let him stop working side jobs and direct full time; before that he had worked at a magazine, done set design, and nearly become a graphic designer.[5](https://www.promonews.tv/interviews/work-life-qa-aidan-zamiri/66291) He signed to the production company Object & Animal in March 2020.[11](https://paths.significanthobbies.com/am-i-the-next/aidan-zamiri/)
## Music videos
Zamiri built his reputation through music video work with alternative pop artists. His projects for FKA twigs included directing 10 videos for her *Caprisongs* mixtape, an approach he described as occupying the underused space between a full-length music video and a visualizer.[12](https://www.promonews.tv/interviews/aidan-zamiri-fka-twigs-caprisongs-project-shes-not-alien-war-goddess-shes-really-funny/76912)
**Charli xcx.** His collaboration with Charli xcx began with a branded photoshoot at the end of 2023 and produced the videos that defined the *Brat* era. "360" (June 2024), filmed in Los Angeles, was nominated for a Grammy and, in his words, launched [Brat](https://www.edgepedia.org/brat-album) summer with "a whirlwind of cameos, biting humor, and perfectly controlled chaos."[6](https://artreview.com/the-interview-aidan-zamiri-the-moment/) • [13](https://directorslibrary.com/2024/latest/music-videos/360-charlie-xcx/) • [10](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/how-aidan-zamiri-made-the-music-video-essential-again) "Guess," featuring Billie Eilish, took its refrain about guessing the color of underwear to the extreme conclusion of a mountain of underwear the two singers climb, and had drawn 97.6 million combined views on the director-tracking site shotby by 2026.[14](https://www.thefader.com/2026/03/09/aidan-zamiri-director-photographer-full-credits/) • [4](https://shotby.tv/aidan-zamiri) He also directed Billie Eilish's "Birds of a Feather" video, set in a haunted 1960s-style office building.[15](https://los40.com/2024/09/27/una-fuerza-paranormal-quiere-llevarse-a-billie-eilish-al-otro-lado-en-birds-of-a-feather/)
His reach extends into advertising. His 2023 film for Nike's collaboration with Ambush, starring [Gabbriette](https://www.edgepedia.org/gabbriette), was framed as a trailer for a witchy teen movie rather than a conventional commercial, and he later worked on the viral campaign for [Josh Safdie](https://www.edgepedia.org/josh-safdie)'s *Marty Supreme* and on [Timothée Chalamet](https://www.edgepedia.org/timothee-chalamet)'s press tours for *A Complete Unknown* and *Marty Supreme*, turning publicity appearances into staged viral events.[16](https://www.creativereview.co.uk/aidan-zamiri-photographer-director/) • [6](https://artreview.com/the-interview-aidan-zamiri-the-moment/) • [1](https://www.creativereview.co.uk/aidan-zamiri-the-moment-charli-xcx-thimothee-chalamet-film/)
## Fashion photography
Alongside directing, Zamiri maintains a parallel career as a fashion photographer. FashionDB records 15 photography projects between 2021 and 2026, including 8 campaigns and 5 editorials; his first recorded credit was an H&M campaign in 2021 and his latest the [Calvin Klein](https://www.edgepedia.org/calvin-klein) "Feel the Fit" campaign with [Sadie Sink](https://www.edgepedia.org/sadie-sink) in 2026.[8](https://model-scouting.com/people/aidan-zamiri) Clients and publications include Nike, Mowalola, Bershka, Dion Lee, H&M, The Face, Dazed Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Cura Magazine.[9](https://www.larkcreative.tv/directors/profile/aidan-zamiri)
His KNWLS campaign "Ballistic" (February 2026), shot with stylist Georgia Pendlebury and model Nieves Boucher, used high-key illumination alongside soft natural light for a raw, unretouched aesthetic.[17](https://visie.io/project/knwls-ballistic-by-aidan-zamiri-2026) In his own photography he favors older movie cameras and film for a "crunchy and imperfect" archival look, shoots with minimal planning so that accidents and micro-expressions survive, and treats text and image together, a habit he traces to his graphic design training.[10](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/how-aidan-zamiri-made-the-music-video-essential-again)
## The Moment
*The Moment* (2026) is Zamiri's feature directorial debut, a mockumentary starring Charli xcx as a fictionalized version of herself preparing for her first arena tour while under pressure from executives, a sleazy director played by [Alexander Skarsgård](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexander-skarsgard), and the lingering machinery of the *Brat* rollout. It was co-written with Bertie Brandes from an original idea by Charli xcx, produced by A24 with Studio365 and 2AM, runs 103 minutes, and had its world premiere at the 2026 [Sundance Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/sundance-film-festival) before an international premiere in the Panorama section of the [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival).[7](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-moment2) • [18](https://apnews.com/article/2570e0929916591fd4d32555a4b194cc)
The project moved quickly. Zamiri and Charli xcx began discussing it at the end of September 2025 after she was pressed to make a conventional concert film; he and Brandes wrote the script over 10 days in December, and shooting began in March.[19](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/aidan-zamiri-is-the-moment) The film was shot over 26 days in London with cinematographer Sean Price Williams, using two cameras running at all times so that scripted scenes could feel accidental and spontaneous.[6](https://artreview.com/the-interview-aidan-zamiri-the-moment/) It opened in New York and Los Angeles on January 30, 2026 and expanded wide on February 6; ArtReview reported that it became A24's fastest-selling title.[18](https://apnews.com/article/2570e0929916591fd4d32555a4b194cc) • [6](https://artreview.com/the-interview-aidan-zamiri-the-moment/)
## Style and reception
Commentators describe Zamiri's visual language as a blend of 1990s iconography, present-day memes, and glitchy VHS textures, delivered with a sharp sense of humor and a preoccupation with identity and persona in the digital age.[3](https://www.dazeddigital.com/projects/article/48851/1/aidan-zamiri-photographer-filmmaker-biography-dazed-100-2020-profile) • [20](https://theagents.club/mag/profiles/aidan-zamiri) On X, "directed by Aidan Zamiri" became a quasi-meme, with fans attaching the credit to videos he did not make; he responded that being directed by him is a "state of mind."[14](https://www.thefader.com/2026/03/09/aidan-zamiri-director-photographer-full-credits/)
Reception of *The Moment* was mixed. [The Atlantic](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-atlantic) found it a comedy with "almost no effective jokes" and rushed pacing, while i-D called it possibly "our first genuinely smart movie about the machinations of modern fame."[21](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/02/charli-xcx-the-moment-wuthering-heights/686109/) • [6](https://artreview.com/the-interview-aidan-zamiri-the-moment/) Zamiri has framed the film as a reflection on expectation and on the pressure to keep supplying the thing an audience first loved.[18](https://apnews.com/article/2570e0929916591fd4d32555a4b194cc)
## References
1. [Aidan Zamiri on the art of turning promotion into performance, Creative Review (20 February 2026)](https://www.creativereview.co.uk/aidan-zamiri-the-moment-charli-xcx-thimothee-chalamet-film/)
2. [Aidan Zamiri, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/pt/name/nm11789308/)
3. [Aidan Zamiri, Dazed 100 2020 profile, Dazed](https://www.dazeddigital.com/projects/article/48851/1/aidan-zamiri-photographer-filmmaker-biography-dazed-100-2020-profile)
4. [Aidan Zamiri, director profile and biography, shotby.tv](https://shotby.tv/aidan-zamiri)
5. [Work & Life Q&A: Aidan Zamiri, Promonews](https://www.promonews.tv/interviews/work-life-qa-aidan-zamiri/66291)
6. [The Interview: Aidan Zamiri, ArtReview (2 February 2026)](https://artreview.com/the-interview-aidan-zamiri-the-moment/)
7. [The Moment, British Council UK Films Database](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/the-moment2)
8. [Aidan Zamiri, FashionDB photographer profile](https://model-scouting.com/people/aidan-zamiri)
9. [Aidan Zamiri, Lark Creative director profile](https://www.larkcreative.tv/directors/profile/aidan-zamiri)
10. [How Aidan Zamiri Made the Music Video Essential Again, Interview Magazine (30 December 2024)](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/how-aidan-zamiri-made-the-music-video-essential-again)
11. [Why You Are Not the Next Aidan Zamiri, Paths](https://paths.significanthobbies.com/am-i-the-next/aidan-zamiri/)
12. [Aidan Zamiri on the FKA twigs' Caprisongs project, Promonews](https://www.promonews.tv/interviews/aidan-zamiri-fka-twigs-caprisongs-project-shes-not-alien-war-goddess-shes-really-funny/76912)
13. ['360' Charli XCX, Directors' Library](https://directorslibrary.com/2024/latest/music-videos/360-charlie-xcx/)
14. [Who's Aidan Zamiri: Everything the Charli xcx collaborator has directed, The FADER (9 March 2026)](https://www.thefader.com/2026/03/09/aidan-zamiri-director-photographer-full-credits/)
15. [Una fuerza paranormal quiere llevarse a Billie Eilish al otro lado en 'Birds of a Feather', LOS40 (27 September 2024)](https://los40.com/2024/09/27/una-fuerza-paranormal-quiere-llevarse-a-billie-eilish-al-otro-lado-en-birds-of-a-feather/)
16. [Aidan Zamiri on cutting through to culture, Creative Review (16 November 2023)](https://www.creativereview.co.uk/aidan-zamiri-photographer-director/)
17. [KNWLS 2026, 'BALLISTIC' by Aidan Zamiri, Visie](https://visie.io/project/knwls-ballistic-by-aidan-zamiri-2026)
18. [Charli xcx has her movie star moment, and says goodbye to Brat, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/2570e0929916591fd4d32555a4b194cc)
19. [Aidan Zamiri Is the Moment, Interview Magazine (29 January 2026)](https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/aidan-zamiri-is-the-moment)
20. [AIDAN ZAMIRI, artist profile, The Agents Club](https://theagents.club/mag/profiles/aidan-zamiri)
21. [Slow Down, Charli XCX, The Atlantic (24 February 2026)](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/02/charli-xcx-the-moment-wuthering-heights/686109/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Visual arts and design › Photographers › Fashion and portrait photographers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license