aprtment life sessions are intimate, culture-led music experiences that sit somewhere between a live performance, a listening room, and a social gathering. They centre DJs, vocalists, musicians, and selectors in carefully chosen spaces, hotels, cultural venues, international locations, with an emphasis on atmosphere, community, and feeling rather than spectacle. The sessions blend soulful, rhythmic amapiano, soul, afro house with a refined lifestyle aesthetic, capturing moments of presence, connection, and shared energy. We are not just events; we are documenting a cultural moment, designed to be lived in real time and revisited through film.

My role is lead filmmaker and visual storyteller for aprtment life. I film every session end-to-end, filming performances, audience interactions, behind-the-scenes moments, and the subtle human details that give the sessions their emotional weight. Beyond operating the camera, I shape the visual language of aprtment life: how it feels, moves, and is remembered. I translate live energy into cinematic edits for YouTube and social platforms, helping build aprtment life’s identity as a global, culture-driven brand rather than just a music event series. In short, I’m not just recording what happens, I’m preserving the soul of it.

I work closely with Camden Stewart as a creative director and filmmaker, shaping the visual and narrative language around his music. My role spans concept development, filming, editing and long-form storytelling, documenting both his public performances and private creative process. I translate Camden’s musical philosophy into cinematic form, from live concerts and studio sessions to documentary sequences filmed across the UK and internationally, ensuring the visuals deepen, rather than decorate, the music. Together, we are building an evolving body of work that treats classical music as a living, contemporary art form, grounded in intimacy, atmosphere and human truth.

At Africa Fashion Week London, I work as a filmmaker and visual storyteller, documenting the event through fashion films, photography, and behind-the-scenes content. My role is to capture the energy, craftsmanship, and cultural narratives of African and diaspora designers, from runway shows and model preparation to designer interviews and moments of quiet focus backstage.

I bring a documentary-led approach, combining cinematic filming and editorial storytelling to create content that is both visually striking and culturally grounded. My skills span direction, cinematography, live-event filming, interview-led storytelling, editing, and creative curation, ensuring the event is not only documented, but archived with depth, respect, and long-term value.

At The Healthcare Leadership Academy (The HLA), my role sits at the intersection of leadership, storytelling, education, and media. I’m responsible for how The HLA thinks, communicates, and is experienced visually, internally by scholars and faculty, and externally by partners, funders, and the wider healthcare ecosystem.

I lead all visual storytelling and content strategy, producing films, interviews, documentaries, talks, and educational media that capture the human side of leadership in healthcare. This includes filming and directing senior clinicians, educators, scholars, and international leaders, translating complex ideas, leadership, ethics, systems change, into emotionally resonant, accessible narratives. I also extend and help guide brand tone, narrative coherence, and cultural alignment across programmes, events, and long-term initiatives, including flagship leadership journeys and anniversary projects.

I also edit The Ripple Effect a podcast series available on Spotify and Apple

Alongside creative direction, I mentor scholars and speakers in communication, presence, and narrative clarity, ensuring that leadership stories are not just told, but felt. My work ensures that The HLA doesn’t simply teach leadership, but embodies it, visually, culturally, and philosophically.

I work closely with Mary Martin London as a creative director and filmmaker, shaping and documenting the brand’s visual and narrative identity. My role spans concept development, filming, photography, and long-form storytelling, capturing runway shows, behind-the-scenes processes, studio work, and international projects. I translate Mary Martin’s values of craftsmanship, heritage, and contemporary design into cinematic content that builds a coherent archive and a long-term documentary record of the brand’s evolution, bridging fashion, culture, and human story.

The Day Breakers ‘40 Acres & The Blues’

Filmed and edited by Adil Oliver Sharif © 2023

The Daybreakers
Track Title: 40 Acres & The Blues
Recorded at Hackney Road & Starship Studios London
Words & Music by Aidan Connell
Guitar & Vocals - Aidan Connell Conor Cotterill - Bass
Drums- Max

Mixed and Produced by Aidan Connell

The Daybreakers are fast-rising, time-warping bluesological rockers based in East London. The Daybreakers channel the frenetic and melancholic sounds of The Doors and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac mixing up the medicine to evoke the shades of the MC5, Captain Beefheart and Thin Lizzy. No constipated purists, The Daybreakers hug synths, sampladelica, the avant-garde and pop to their Paisley-patterned bosoms, a three-headed brave Ulysses for the 2020s.Their unorthodox approach and sidestepping of rock norms have set them apart, attracting celebrity fans and a cross-generational following enthused by The Daybreaker’s fresh take on Rocks’ golden era.

Formed by Irish / Jamaican relatives Aidan Connell and Conor Cotterill, with Aidan having lent his guitar and songwriting skills to Gary Clark Jr, Mazzy Star and Seasick Steven and bassist Connor with his school of Stax -meets Motown approach. The Daybrakers groove like a mutha thanks to drummer Raul Mas and school-of-Stax-meets-Motown bassist Conor Cotterill, embodying the seeming paradox of tight but loose.

Formed in early 2019 the group has been tearing it up in packed venues in the UK and Europe both in their own right and as the most supernova stars own Starship club nights which have attracted such luminaries as Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.