Marie Zahir was born in Vienna and studied from 2003 to 2010 at the Institute for Applied Theater Studies in Gießen. From 2010 to 2012, she worked for Cinegrell, a Swiss camera rental company and worked as a camera assistant. From 2013 to 2017 she studied picture design at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. During her studies, Marie Zahir shot 19 short films in a wide variety of genres as a graphic designer. The films shot by Marie Zahir were i.a. shown at Visions du Réel Nyon and Camerimage. In 2018 she won the National Competition for best up-and-coming DoP in the field of feature film at the IFFF with her diploma film "How I lost myself" (D: Sarah Weber).