When Amirah Tajdin steps behind the lens, she starts from the assumption that every person in front of a camera is vulnerable. Whether appearing on screen for the first time or are accustomed to being filmed, the moment the lens turns towards them, they are being interpreted through someone else’s eye.
Growing up as the most reserved of four siblings, Amirah found in art a way to withdraw from the noise around her while still making herself understood. Words and pictures became her language: a world she could disappear into, but also a way to leave something behind. She went on to study Fine Art and Art History, always with directing in mind.
Today, Amirah describes herself as a film director, artist, and sometimes entrepreneur. The “sometimes” is doing real work in that sentence. She co-founded SEVEN THIRTY Films with her sister, producer Wafa Tajdin, and moves between independent cinema and commercial work.
Her short film Marea di Tierra screened in competition at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and Sundance, and she became the first Kenyan director selected for both the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters Lab and Directors Lab. Her commercial portfolio spans fashion, tourism, and culture, as well as campaigns for global brands. Her first feature film is currently in development.
“It takes a while to understand that you have a unique story to tell and trust that you have a unique story to tell. I’m turning 40 this year, and for the first time, I’m like, okay, cool, imposter syndrome isn’t a thing anymore.”
Amirah’s perspective is shaped by her Omani Swahili background, her roots in Kenya, and a life lived across cultures. She comes from a lineage of women who challenged convention in post-colonial Africa, and her Islamic faith rooted in Sufism remains central to who she is.
She pays attention to the details that make a representation feel true: the way a hijab is worn, the way a woman moves through a room, and the gestures that reveal whether a story has been shaped from within a culture or observed from outside it.
“I think it’s important that I bring that truth to my work, which is intrinsically who I am,” she says. Her perspective also shapes the way she directs people. Amirah is often told that women feel comfortable in front of her lens. For her, that comes down to respect. “I think it’s just an extension of how I would like to be treated if I were in a position of vulnerability.”
Trust runs both ways in Amirah’s work. The care she brings to the people in front of the lens is matched by what she needs from those behind it: the confidence to let her.
“When I’m trusted I know I can deliver. And that translates into creating something impactful.
She felt that most clearly while directing a series of films for Farfetch with her sister as lead producer. The client placed complete faith in both of them, giving them the freedom to shape the work without second-guessing every decision.
“The client put 100% faith and trust, not just in me, but in her as well as a producer,” Amirah says. “And I think that allowed us to make something that was disruptive, but beautiful, elegant, but new.”
The project still stands out to her because the creative freedom was matched by commercial impact. The films did what the brand needed them to do, while still feeling recognisably theirs.
For Amirah, beauty, originality and effectiveness are not competing demands; the strongest work holds all three. But reaching the finished work is rarely straightforward. She describes moving between independent film and advertising as “a constant dance of rejection.” Sometimes, projects that do not materialise, pitches go elsewhere, and you have to repeat the decision to return to the work anyway.
“I think it’s important to share tenacity and show how you got there,” she says, “and show that it’s not easy and it’s not all success.”
She recounts losing a car commercial to a male director with less narrative experience, despite having short films screened at Sundance and Cannes. The incident points to the assumptions still shaping who is trusted with certain genres and budgets. Progress will require naming those biases and asking the people who hold power to help dismantle them.
The question of who gets to shape the image becomes especially charged in beauty advertising, where Amirah has spent years watching ideals of femininity being constructed and repeated.
She is troubled by how easily an altered, increasingly uniform face can become the standard women are expected to measure themselves. Her concern is not with individual choices, but with the larger story those choices begin to reinforce.
“I don’t think women have ever been allowed to have the narrative on how we look. But I think we can now — and it shouldn’t be to conform to something that doesn’t actually exist.”
Amirah wants women to reclaim that narrative, while recognising that men must also be part of the conversation. For her, the deeper question is who gets to define beauty — and whose interests that image serves.
Endurance, for Amirah, is not simply a matter of pushing harder.
Amirah also speaks candidly about living with PCOS and the effect hormonal health can have on energy, stress and decision-making. Her advice to women is practical: understand what your body needs in order to keep going.
She has taken the same deliberate approach to her mental health. Amirah began seeing a therapist regularly after one of the biggest opportunities of her career triggered crippling anxiety about getting it wrong. Faith has given her another source of steadiness.
“I can’t even say I’d be half of who I am today without faith, spiritual belief,” she says.
For Amirah, sustaining the work requires tenacity, but also the self-knowledge to recognise what allows you to continue.
When asked to imagine her mark, Amirah chooses an embroidered horse, handmade and built to last. She is drawn to the power and endurance horses carry even when standing still, as well as their capacity to be wild and free.
“They’ve got their power and endurance,” she says. “They can be wild and free.”
The horse holds the qualities Amirah wants in her work: form and freedom, beauty and endurance, and a strength that remains present whether still or in motion.
HerMark is a visual and narrative study of women shaping the marketing, advertising, and communications industry. Branding in Asia is publishing the ongoing series in partnership with HerMark. Learn more at hermark.world.
Learn more about Amirah at amirahtajdin.com.
