Amir Amirani

Amir Amirani (, born July 28, 1967) is an Iranian-born film director and producer.

Early life and education Born in Iran, Amirani grew up in London.

He earned a degree in biology from the University of Nottingham and an M.Phil. in International Relations from the University of Cambridge. He originally planned to pursue a Ph.D. in that subject as well.

Career BBC Amirani joined the BBC in 1992 as a Graduate Production Trainee.

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. He has also produced episodes of such BBC Radio 4 series as In Business, From Our Own Correspondent, and The World Tonight, as well as the radio program From Tehran With Laughter.

We Are Many

He served as writer, director, and cinematographer of the documentary We Are Many, which was released in 2014. and the Hay Festival.

"The scales fell from people's eyes," Amirani told The Independent about the 2003 protest. "Up until then, they still had a faith in politics: that there would come a point at which the politicians would have to listen. The realisation that this was not the case was a huge moment." Although the 2003 anti-Iraq War rallies were widely considered a failure, Amirani argues that they helped spark the Egyptian revolution.

Recent work 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 co-producer of the 2019 documentary Coup 53, The film, which won the audience award at the 2019 Vancouver International Film Festival for Most Popular International Documentary, is written and directed by his brother Taghi.

Other professional activities He has written articles of reportage for the New Statesman, New Scientist, Business Traveller Asia and the Economist Intelligence Unit. He considers the Iraq War the "crime of the century."

In November 2019, along with other public figures, Amirani signed a letter supporting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsed him for in the 2019 UK general election.

Honors and awards Amirani was nominated for an Amnesty International Award for his BBC work, and was also nominated for the One World Broadcasting Trust Awards.

Personal life Amirani lives in London.