Amirah Tajdin

Realness African Screenwriters' Residency 2016

Inspired by Riot Grrrl bands of the 90s and the feminist brevity of her rebel grandmothers, Amirah Tajdin, is a Kenyan Film director and artist whose passion for filmmaking culminated in her pursuing a BA in Fine Art (Photography and Art History) in South Africa and the USA. Her work is lauded for its nuance, clear directorial voice and her lyrical stories of women and underrepresented subjects. Not to mention it takes risks when it comes to performance, casting, art direction and styling. Visually it’s rich, bold, new and speaks to the colorful world Amirah descends from, quite literally. Tactile, tense and vivid best explains the lived experiences of her characters and their respective journeys. The work transports and transforms audiences because who and what you see on screen is not only relatable it’s most likely your experience or one that you can connect with. 

Her short film Marea De Tierra, was in competition at Sundance (2016) and premiered at Directors Fortnight (Cannes) 2015. It went on to show at numerous other film festivals around the world including New York Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival, Guadalajara and more. She is a Sundance fellow having participated in the Sundance Writers Lab (2017) and Directors Lab (2018) with what will be her debut feature, Birth Song (previously Hawa Hawaii). Making her the first Kenyan to be a part of its prestigious alumni. She has most recently been nominated for Best Directing, Costume and Production Design at the Berlin Commerical Awards 2021. Tajdin’s prolific career in commercials, fashion films, documentary and narrative projects includes work for brands such as SPANX, Farfetch, Cadillac, Bloomingdale’s, M.A.C, Virgin Mobile, Pepsi, Maybelline and The Louvre Abu Dhabi. Her brand film Sisterhood: Action for Girls Who Code was a Tribeca X Award finalist and garnered a Best Director nomination. This also translates well into her commercial directing portfolio that has garnered her representation in London, Paris, New York and Dubai. 

Amirah takes pride in being Black Arab, Kenyan, Muslim, an aesthete, a woman most of all. Her work honors and evokes the strong and black matrilineal kin she descends from and the voices of societies forgotten dreamers.

Email: amirah@seventhirtyfilms.com