The Cinema of Iran, also known as the Cinema of Persia, refers to the cinema and film industries in Iran which produce a variety of commercial films annually. Iranian art films have garnered international fame and now enjoy a global following. Iranian films are usually written and spoken in the Persian language.
Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids is a 2004 Indian-American documentary film about the children of prostitutes in Sonagachi, Kolkata's red light district. The widely acclaimed film, written and directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, won a string of accolades including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005.
Jafar Panâhi is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, commonly associated with the Iranian New Wave film movement. After several years of making short films and working as an assistant director for fellow Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, Panahi achieved international recognition with his feature film debut, The White Balloon (1995). The film won the Caméra d'Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, the first major award an Iranian film won at Cannes.
Zahra Amir Ebrahimi known professionally as Zar Amir Ebrahimi, is an Iranian-French actress, producer and director. She is best known for her performance as journalist Arezoo Rahimi in the crime thriller Holy Spider (2022), for which she won the Best Actress award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
Maheen Zia is a Pakistani film director and film editor.
Be Like Others: The Story of Transgendered Young Women Living in Iran is a 2008 documentary film written and directed by Tanaz Eshaghian about trans people in Iran. It explores issues of gender and sexual identity while following the personal stories of some of the patients at a Tehran gender reassignment clinic. The film played at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, winning three awards.
Pourān Derakh'shandeh is an Iranian film director, producer, screen writer, and researcher.
No One Knows About Persian Cats is a 2009 Iranian film directed by Bahman Ghobadi produced by Wild Bunch. The film offers the perspective of Iran as it explores its underground rock scene. It won the Special Jury Prize Ex-aequo in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
Granaz Moussavi is an Iranian-Australian contemporary poet, film director and screenwriter. She is known for her avant-garde poetry in the 1990s. Her debut feature film My Tehran for Sale (2009) is an internationally-acclaimed Australian-Iranian co-production.
Sepideh Farsi is an Iranian film director, born in Tehran in 1965.
The Queen and I is a 2008 Swedish-made documentary feature film about Farah Pahlavi, the former Queen and Empress of Iran. The film was produced and directed by Iranian-Swedish filmmaker Nahid Persson Sarvestani. The film follows the former queen and empress and the director, a former communist, as they share ideas and concerns about the country they were both forced to leave after the revolution.
Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi is the widow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and was successively Queen and Empress (Shahbanu) of Iran from 1959 to 1979. She was born into a prosperous family whose fortunes were diminished after her father's early death. While studying architecture in Paris, France, she was introduced to the Shah at the Iranian embassy, and they were married in December 1959. The Shah's first two marriages had not produced a son—necessary for royal succession—resulting in great rejoicing at the birth of Crown Prince Reza in October of the following year. Diba was then free to pursue interests other than domestic duties, though she was not allowed a political role. She worked for many charities, and founded Iran's first American-style university, enabling more women to become students in the country. She also facilitated the buying-back of Iranian antiquities from museums abroad.
Mehrdad Oskouei is an Iranian independent film producer, film director, screenwriter of documentary films and film educator.
Nima Sarvestani is a Swedish-Iranian filmmaker.
No Burqas Behind Bars is a 2012 Swedish feature-length documentary film made by Maryam Ebrahimi and Nima Sarvestani on life in a women's prison in Afghanistan.
Thord Dan Rickard Sundqvist is a Swedish music producer, songwriter and composer.
Maryam Ebrahimi is a Swedish Iranian journalist, documentary filmmaker, producer and director.
Tehran Taboo is a 2017 Persian-language German-Austrian animated romance film directed by Ali Soozandeh.
Holy Spider is a 2022 Persian-language crime thriller film directed by Ali Abbasi, starring Mehdi Bajestani and Zar Amir Ebrahimi. Based on the true story of Saeed Hanaei, a serial killer who targeted street prostitutes and killed 16 women from 2000 to 2001 in Mashhad, Iran, the film depicts a fictional female journalist investigating a serial killer.
