Ali Imran Zaidi 
Writer, Director, Editor & Executive Producer
Born and first bred under British tutelage in a post-colonial middle-eastern
nation, Ali Imran Zaidi developed a passion for writing at a very
early age. It was in the blue & white checkered uniforms of
Al-Khubairat school in Abu Dhabi in the early 80s where he recalls
competing with fellow students over who could write the longest
coherent stories. On one occasion, a friend’s story was so
entertaining it actually spurred the teachers into organizing a
school play around it. Hmmm… you can actually write things
that others can perform and all can appreciate? That was clue number
one.
As it turned out years later, between his writing and an intense
appreciation for photography (another form of raw storytelling),
he had already developed a passion for filmmaking but just never
knew it… until one day, while watching a small but wonderful
independent film, it hit him like a ton of bricks – good writing
plus moving photography can equal great film! Then it all came swirling
together – you just don’t get into knock-down drag-out
fights with people over which decade produced the best films, or
whether watching pan & scan films over the original letterbox
version is an abomination, unless you really take your films seriously.
After many moons spent watching and helping more experienced filmmakers,
producers, sound engineers and actors work their magic, thus was
born The Seventh Level, a small-budget but large-minded independent
production company in Central Florida.
Most recently he worked with his fellow filmmaker Fred Zara on
the Sketchbook Productions short film, Entering Wendy, as Cinematographer
and Co-Producer. Shown at various venues around town and at some
great film festivals including the Palm Beach International
Film Festival, the Tambay Film & Video Festival
and the Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival,
the accolades for that production are still rolling in.
Oh, and which small but wonderful independent film lit that final
spark? Smoke,
by Wayne Wang. And some others that really drove it home include
Beautiful
Girls by Ted Demme, and Next
Stop Wonderland by Brad Anderson.
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