Sepehr Samimi [He/Him] is an Iranian-Canadian documentary cinematographer, producer and director with a BFA in film production from Simon Fraser University. His short films have been to festivals such as Montreal World film festival and Cannes Short Film Corner. His first feature doc credit as cinematographer and editor was on If [I Was] To Retain You, an experimental documentary shot in Hong Kong during the umbrella movement and funded by Canada Arts Council. In 2018, he served as digital producer of Vancouver International Film Festival. In 2019 he was assistant to prominent Canadian doc director Jennifer Abbott on the NFB/Telus climate film The Magnitude of All Things.
In 2021 along with frequent collaborator, filmmaker Jen Muranetz, Sepehr founded Understory Films Inc, a documentary production company dedicated to content with purpose. His upcoming film as director is titled Abundance, a documentary about returning to land, community and food sovereignty, funded by Canada Art Council. He is currently in production for Standing With The Ancients, a frontline feature doc about the Fairy Creek Blockade, the largest act of civil disobedience in Canadian history. The successful crowdfunding campaign for Standing With The Ancients reached #1 film in Canada in the documentary category for several weeks. In 2022, Sepehr was among 14 Canadian filmmakers selected for Doc Accelerator program at HotDocs festival.
When not engaged in key creative roles, Sepehr works in the Vancouver film and TV industry as a camera assistant for popular US series from networks such as CW, Netflix, and Syfy. Having faced various barriers of inequality in the film industry, Sepehr is an active advocate of empowering marginalized voices and giving priority to underrepresented creatives. He currently resides on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, in the place now known as Vancouver, BC, Canada.