Director | Writer | Producer
Niki is an award-winning film director, writer, curator, and creator of programmes. Using humour and surprising examples from film, AI, and campaigns, she brings new perspectives on creative storytelling, engaging young audiences, our unconscious bias, sex education, and film-making.
Our consultants would be happy to advise you on how best to tailor the narrative to your specific target audience.
Niki Padidar is a director, writer, and programme maker. Her debut film, Ninnoc, won seven international awards, including at the prestigious Berlinale film festival in Berlin. Her second film, All You See, was the opening film at IDFA, the world’s largest documentary film festival. Niki is also the author of the sex education book Dokter Corrie geeft antwoord, the first edition of which sold out with over 10,000 copies.
Niki creates stories for audiences of all ages, but has a specialization in youth. She is a speaker and conducts masterclasses worldwide on topics such as unconscious bias and representation, creative and out-of-the-box storytelling, engaging young audiences, making and learning from (youth) films and sex education for children, teenagers, and parents/teachers.
She currently works as a curator for IDFA, where she reviews and evaluates around 300 international films every year. In addition, Niki advises on films and coaches filmmakers.
Born in Tehran, Iran, Niki studied photography at The New School University in New York, completed a foundation year at the Rietveld Art Academy, and earned her master’s degree at the University of Amsterdam, specializing in “Youth & Media” and “Representation.”
Niki believes it is important not to repeat clichés, but rather to challenge the current status quo and inspire people with humor, tangible and original examples, and thought-provoking clips—inviting them reassess their own views.
She hopes audiences are surprised or stirred after experiencing her stories, prompting them to question their own version of reality. And she hopes that in the future she will look less British so people will stop addressing her in English five times a day.
Stereotypes, diversity, prejudices. You’re bombarded with them. And yet, they often go wrong. Without resorting to politically correct clichés, we’ll use examples from films, AI, advertisements, and campaigns to examine how these assumptions work and how you can become more aware of them. What do we see and don’t see when we look at others? How do we perpetuate prejudices, despite good intentions? And what can we do?
What age do you start? What topics do you broach? What tone do you use? How do you make something a topic of discussion? What questions do children have? What does research say?
This keynote is suitable for parents, teachers, filmmakers, other storytellers, or other people who want to reach a young audience and engage with this topic.
A modified version of this keynote is also available, suitable for children and young people themselves. In that case, the focus isn’t on the target audience, but on the topics themselves. Such as love, dating, body changes, sexuality, etc. Adapted to the target audience’s age.
Both 9-12 and 13+ are possible. Who are they? What drives them? How do you get them interested? How do you distract them? How do you reach them?
Using various examples from films, campaigns, and other visuals, we will discuss ways to engage them in an honest and authentic way. This lecture is suitable for parents, teachers, filmmakers, other storytellers, or anyone who wants to reach a young target audience.
Original and creative ways of storytelling. To inspire people to approach a topic in new ways. As a film festival curator, I’ve screened over 750 international films over the past three years. Using examples from a selection of unique films, AI, and campaigns, I’ll show how you can approach a story more originally. It’s very inspiring to see examples of unique storytelling. 5. Film/TV Program Production Process Based on my own work (award-winning films, Amazon series, TV programs), I can explain and demonstrate from start to finish how you go from idea to finished product. I can explain the choices and mistakes you might make along the way, and how you can transform those into a successful outcome. Depending on the client’s needs, I can tailor this presentation. For example, I can focus more on research, art direction, editing, or collaborations.
If you receive hundreds of films and can only select 10… how do you proceed? What do you pay attention to? What choices do you make? Why?
Using examples, we’ll look at unique excerpts from selected films to illustrate what makes a film special, what makes it stand out, and how it succeeds in capturing the imagination.
Based on the topics mentioned above, I often create a specific presentation tailored to the client’s needs. For example, in Poland I gave a lecture to all kinds of different teachers and professors about how you can use film as an educational tool, without it necessarily having to be a classic educational film.
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