A person’s North Stars says everything.

For director Iris Kim, they look like Darren Starr’s New York City, circa 1998, the glamorous antagonist, Miranda Priestly, and the unrelenting ambition and charisma of Miloš Forman’s Amadeus (1984).

Based in Los Angeles, by way of middle-of-nowhere Canada, Iris left behind her quiet early life in sleepy suburbia, where she sharpened her eye studying the glossy pages of Teen Vogue, burned her retinas on the pale pink catalogue of John Hughes films, and got lost in fantasies about the elaborate lives of people elsewhere, a curiosity that would later become the foundation for her practice.

Iris’s work is sharp, colorful, and show-stopping, yes, but also sensitive and observant—just like her. She often explores themes that hinge on nostalgia and familiar people and places—whether real or dreamt. Rooted in small-town observation and scaled up for screens of all sizes, her body of work blends style, humor, nuance, and evocative editorial moments that make every project shimmer with life and personality.

Her collaborators include Troye Sivan, Madison Beer, Cindy Kimberly, Helen Mirren, Eva Longoria, Julia Michaels, Heidi Montag, and brands like MAC Cosmetics, L’Oréal Paris, Adidas, Nike, Popeyes, Jergens, the Toronto Raptors, WNBA, Smirnoff, and Waymo. Hardware includes the Prism Lipsett Prize and a Telly Award.

Iris’s favourite quote?

“The themes are always the same, a return to innocence, the mysteries of the blood, an itch for the transcendental.” —Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion