Storytelling as Play: Zizi Salimi’s Creative Journey from Cinema Dreams to Digital Media

Introduction: A Corner for Stories

In the latest episode of Cozy Corner with Hossein Nasiri, we sit down with Zizi Salimi, a filmmaker, content creator, and one of the most inventive figures of Iran’s new generation of digital storytellers. Zizi’s journey is anything but conventional—marked by solitude in childhood, the imaginative refuge of cinema, detours through theater and cinema school, experiments in wedding videography, and eventually, the bustling playground of YouTube and Instagram.

What makes her work stand out is not the gadgets, the specs, or even the platforms she uses. It’s something deeper: her relentless commitment to storytelling. For Zizi, content is not just about showing how a phone works or how a washing machine uses AI. It’s about feeling, about creating moments that connect with audiences the same way a childhood film once swept her into another world.

This post traces her path, her philosophy, and her impact on digital media. More importantly, it reflects on the lessons her journey offers to creators, dreamers, and anyone who has ever wanted to turn play into a profession.

Childhood: Cinema as Escape and Revelation

Zizi was the youngest child in a large, religious family. Unlike many childhoods filled with play, hers was shaped by silence, solitude, and films. Classic dubbed movies—Gone with the Wind, A Streetcar Named Desire, Marlon Brando performances—filled the family’s living room. While her siblings may have watched casually, Zizi absorbed them deeply.

“The effect those films had on me—they separated me from everything else. That feeling was so powerful for me. And I thought, I can give that feeling to others too.”

Cinema gave her an escape from loneliness, but more than that, it gave her a sense of purpose. She began writing stories in elementary school, often inspired by overheard conversations. What others dismissed as “cute” essays felt to her like seeds of something world-changing. She recalls burning most of her early writings in frustration, keeping only one—believing even as a child that her words could carry weight.

This conviction—that storytelling matters, that it has the power to shake the world—would become the foundation of her creative life.

Theater and Cinema: Searching for Belonging

In middle school, Zizi joined a theater association. For six years, she explored acting, voice training, and even wrote and directed her own play at sixteen. But something about theater didn’t click. It wasn’t playful enough—it didn’t feel like the creative playground she was seeking.

She switched to a cinema-focused high school, where she joined the Iranian Youth Cinema Society in Kermanshah. There, she learned editing, directing, and the mechanics of filmmaking. Yet cinema, too, felt distant and inaccessible—too heavy, too bureaucratic, too slow for someone craving immediacy.

Her refusal to attend university reinforced this independence. “Why go to school,” she asked herself, “when I can read, analyze films, and grow on my own?”

This sense of creative misfit—never fully belonging in theater, cinema, or academia—pushed her toward a new path: one defined by experimentation, autonomy, and self-discovery.

Studio Sarv: Learning to Play with Images

The turning point came at Studio Sarv in Kermanshah, run by Mohsen Rashidi. Rashidi, a documentary photographer with a unique eye, transformed even wedding photography into cinematic, story-driven experiences. Zizi joined as an unpaid intern and quickly rose to head of the video department.

“I wasn’t on their level yet… so I said, I don’t need money, just let me learn. Within months, they handed me the video team.”

At Sarv, she learned editing, cinematography, and team management. More importantly, she found “her people”—a collaborative space where brainstorming and experimentation were encouraged. Yet even here, she felt the limits of wedding videography. She wanted to tell stories beyond ceremonies.

So, she turned to YouTube.

YouTube Beginnings: English Tutorials and First Experiments

Inspired by creators like Peter McKinnon, Zizi began making English-language tutorials on editing and content creation. She had no idea YouTube could be monetized; she simply wanted a playground.

“Forget cinema. This is my playground. This is where I belong.”

Her videos mirrored McKinnon’s style, but she infused them with her own sensibility—playfulness, narrative structure, emotional resonance. These early experiments laid the foundation for her distinctive voice.

From Short Films to Tech Content: A Pivot Toward Relevance

Zizi also tried making short films, often self-funded despite financial struggles. Yet feedback from collaborators was discouraging. Many told her she wasn’t cut out for filmmaking. Rejections piled up.

Instead of giving up, she analyzed the market. Around 2018–2019, tech content in Iran was exploding. Influencers like Mahdi Shajari were proving that audiences craved accessible, visually engaging reviews. Zizi saw an opportunity.

She reached out to Samsung, asking for a phone to test. They agreed, and her first branded video was born. Unlike traditional reviews, hers used narrative hooks, mise-en-scène, and emotional design. Soon, Huawei and others came calling.

But she resisted being boxed into dry product showcases. She insisted on weaving storytelling into every piece, often rejecting offers that clashed with her vision. Samsung’s early trust gave her a foothold, but her determination to reshape tech content defined her path.

Storytelling in Tech: The Content Form

What truly sets Zizi apart is her Content Form—a structured framework she and her team developed to ensure every video remains authentic, emotional, and engaging.

The rules include:

1. Make something you love.
2. Step into the audience’s shoes.
3. Keep it short and clear.
4. Touch emotions.
5. Stay on topic.
6. Be yourself.

This form functions as both a creative compass and a scalable system. It allows her studio to expand without losing its soul.

“At the top of some projects, I even list the client as ‘Zizi the King’—those are my personal projects. They remind me why I started.”

By codifying intuition into a repeatable method, she bridges the gap between playfulness and discipline—between the child writing stories in secret and the studio leader managing a creative team.

Observation and Empathy: Fuel for Ideas

Zizi describes herself as an observer. Whether listening to her family’s conversations, chatting with a 13-year-old obsessed with iPhones, or testing a smart lock at home, she mines everyday life for insights.

Her process resembles a game of empathy: stepping into different shoes, imagining diverse perspectives, and translating them into scripts. Even when her team writes drafts, she insists on embedding her personal touch—small details, symbols, mise-en-scène choices that carry hidden meanings.

This practice connects back to her childhood habit of eavesdropping and turning playground gossip into stories at night. Content creation, for her, remains that same game—only now played on a global stage.

Emotional Design: The Hardest Lesson

One of Zizi’s biggest challenges is emotional design—making audiences feel something through tech content. She experiments with sound design, lighting, and editing, but admits it’s a skill she’s still mastering.

“Creating emotional atmosphere is really difficult. If any part of the process fails—sound, edit, acting—the project won’t come together.”

She studies horror films to understand sound’s power, explores transitions for emotional impact, and debates with herself about the right tools for each message. For her, the art lies in choosing the right instrument—color, lens, music, mise-en-scène—to tell the story effectively.

Client Work vs. Personal Projects: Balancing Survival and Joy

Like many creatives, Zizi navigates the tension between client expectations and personal vision. Clients often resist abstract or emotional storytelling, fearing audiences won’t understand. But Zizi insists simplicity and authenticity resonate more than jargon.

To protect her joy, she funds organic projects each year—videos made purely for herself and her team. These projects remind her of the core rule: enjoy the process.

“If I ever walk into the studio upset, my teammates remind me: Zizi, you were supposed to enjoy this.”

This principle—play as the foundation of work—anchors her against burnout, rejection, and compromise.

The Philosophy of Play

Throughout the interview, one theme keeps resurfacing: play.

For Zizi, storytelling is play. Observation is play. Editing is play. Even managing a studio—though often stressful—is framed as an extension of that childhood longing to “find people like me and create something together.”

Her analogy is powerful: content creation as a playground of ideas, where writing, directing, and editing merge into games of discovery. The challenge is to preserve that playfulness while systematizing it for growth.

Broader Lessons for Creators

Zizi’s journey offers insights for anyone navigating creativity in the digital age:

• Platforms democratize storytelling. Cinema may be inaccessible, but YouTube and Instagram provide immediate entry points.
• Play fuels discipline. By systematizing play through frameworks like the Content Form, creators can scale without losing authenticity.
• Observation breeds empathy. Creativity is not isolationist—it thrives on listening to others, noticing small details, and translating them into meaningful narratives.
• Rejections are not roadblocks. Zizi’s story shows how setbacks in cinema and short films redirected her toward a medium where her voice resonates more strongly.
• Enjoy the journey. Perhaps the most radical lesson is that joy—not perfection, not fame, not even success—is the ultimate goal.

Conclusion: A Voice for a Generation

Today, Zizi Salimi is more than a YouTuber or tech blogger. She is a storyteller who has redefined how Persian audiences engage with technology. She has proven that even in unlikely spaces—like a phone review or a smart washing machine demo—narrative, empathy, and emotion can thrive.

Her journey from a withdrawn child in a religious household to a confident studio leader reflects the transformative power of creativity. By treating content creation as both play and craft, she inspires a generation of digital natives to believe that storytelling is not confined to cinema or literature. It can live in a smartphone ad, a YouTube tutorial, or a short Instagram clip.

Above all, Zizi’s voice is a reminder: creativity must remain joyful. It is in joy—in the play of observation, in the thrill of discovery, in the laughter of a team arguing over lighting—that storytelling finds its truest power.