Published: Jan. 15, 2021, 12:54 p.m.
Amir Amirani is an Iranian-born film director and producer. Amirani joined the BBC in 1992 as a Graduate Production Trainee. He was a writer and researcher for a four-part TV series about the Nobel Prizes. In 1994, he and his brother Taghi founded Amirani Films, which has produced documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, and other British broadcasters, as well as for PBS and other broadcasters abroad. Amir served as writer, director, and cinematographer of the documentary We Are Many, which was released in 2014, an account of the worldwide protests against the Iraq War on February 15, 2003. In 2014, Amirani recorded a series of video “masterclasses” for the Scottish Documentary Institute, in which he shares advice about filmmaking, including choice of topic, the role of the musical score, funding, and the use of films to promote political causes. He is also the co-producer of the 2019 documentary Coup 53, which is about “the 1953 Anglo-American coup d’etat in Iran that changed the course of history.” He has written articles of reportage for the New Statesman, New Scientist, Business Traveller Asia, and the Economist Intelligence Unit.