Shir Ariya is a Thai filmmaker based in the UK. She is drawn to character-driven stories that combine heightened realism with a darkly comedic and/or horror twist. She has written six short films and directed five other dark comedy short films, two of which are Crab No. 7 (2025), which was selected for the BFI London Film Festival, and The Sorrows of Young Charlotte (2026), which is set to premiere at FrightFest this year, and most recently The Pleasure of Being Held (2026) and The House of Sensei (2026), both made as part of the Directing Fiction course at the National Film and Television School.