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.

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.

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 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.