The Twins is a cinematic scrapbook; its form (a love letter to the pop culture of the 90s) provides a dynamic entry point to a wider discourse about the mirror that pop culture holds up to society and the lasting impact that the media we consume as young people has on us. Intimate voiceover from director Zara Meerza, an immersive soundscape from alternative rock band Jack + Eliza combined with staccato editing and a tongue in cheek humour combines to make an original comment on the pop culture of the 90s which in our nostalgia-focused times is more relevant than

The Twins was commissioned by WePresent, the arts commissioning arm of WeTransfer. The WePresent platform is one of the most diverse sources on the internet for creative content from all over the world, specializing in stories from underrepresented communities. It has covered stories from over 1000 creatives from 100 countries. The non-Western point of view from Zara Meerza, a British-Indian filmmaker, of a pop culture phenomenon like the Olsen Twins globally presented an opportunity to tell a popular story from a fresh perspective. The film is stitched together using archival footage from Olsen Twins films with a voiceover from the filmmaker herself. It is a form of short form documentary while being nostalgic entertainment to millennials and Gen Z.

At once intimate and anchored in popular culture, The Twins is a pop culture documentary that aims to go beyond its subject matter and create an experience of questioning, curiosity and nostalgia. The majority of WePresent’s audience are creatives from all over the world, making this the ideal content commission for its growing audience of 3 million in 190 countries. The platform also favours perspectives from underrepresented communities. The non-Western point of view of a pop culture phenomenon presented an opportunity to tell a popular story from a fresh perspective.

The concept of the film was to explore the ongoing fascination with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen from a personal and immersive perspective using long lost archival footage and interpreting it creatively for the digital era. It also provided an opportunity to explore a Western idea of youth and beauty from a non-Western perspective.

The film was commissioned by WePresent by WeTransfer in January 2021. It took four months to make, a process that involved extensive archival research, a two month editing and writing process with noted editor Daniel Garber (Some Kind of Heaven (Hulu), and a thorough legal review to license the tracks in the film specifically Play’s ‘Us Against the World.’ The film pushes the boundaries of creative fair use, bringing films that are not available digitally back to audiences for the first time since the VHS era. Additionally, the film was scored by Jack and Eliza of PURR who produced a sonic composition evocative of nineties and early aughts teen movies. The film had its theatrical premiere at the Metrograph in New York followed by a Q&A between Zara and Sangeeta Singh Kurtz of New York Magazine and it also played at Aesthetica Film Festival in Autumn of 2022.

The press surrounding the film was extensive, the interview between cultural commentator and Olsen Twins fan, Raven Smith and Zara Meerza on WePresent was widely shared. Media write ups include: Grazia, Dazed, Document Journal, Nylon, Hypebae and Glamour. The trailer of The Twins on Hypebae’s Instagram was viewed 30k times alone in the first week.

An entire episode of They Thought I Was You, a popular Olsen twins podcast was dedicated to the film and the responses the hosts had received about the film. The film premiered to a sold out audience at Metrograph, one of New York’s leading arthouse cinemas to a crowd that included editors from Conde Nast Traveller, New York Magazine, Jezebel and more, and has sustained steady viewership and engagement due to it being the only documentary film about the Olsens. It has been viewed on YouTube almost 50,000 times.

A feature on Diet Paratha led to a large volume of South Asian diaspora audiences expressing their appreciation of an essay documentary told from their perspective by a South Asian filmmaker.