Bahman Ghobadi ( fa, بهمن قبادی; ; born 1 February 1969 in Baneh, Kurdistan province, Iran) is an Iranian Kurdish film director, producer and writer. He belongs to the " new wave" of

Iranian cinema The Cinema of Iran ( Persian: سینمای ایران), 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 ...

Biography

He was born in Baneh, a Kurdish city in Iran. His family moved to Sanandaj in 1981. Ghobadi received a Bachelor of Arts in film directing from Iran Broadcasting College. After a brief career in industrial photography, Ghobadi began making short 8 mm films. His documentary ''Life in Fog'' won numerous awards. Bahman Ghobadi was assistant director on

Abbas Kiarostami Abbas Kiarostami ( fa, عباس کیارستمی ; 22 June 1940 – 4 July 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of ...

's ''

The Wind Will Carry Us ''The Wind Will Carry Us'' ( fa, باد ما را خواهد برد, ''Bād mā rā khāhad bord'') is a 1999 Iranian film written and directed by Abbas Kiarostami. The title is a reference to a poem written by the modern Iranian poet Forough Fa ...

''. Bahman Ghobadi founded Mij Film in 2000, a company with the aim of production of films in Iran about its different ethnic groups. His first feature film was ''

A Time for Drunken Horses ''A Time for Drunken Horses'' ( ku, Dema hespên serxweş; fa, زمانی برای مستی اسب‌ها, italic=yes, ''Zamani barayé masti-e asbha'') is a 2000 Kurdish language film directed by Bahman Ghobadi and produced in Iran. It was a co- ...

'' (2000), the first Kurdish film produced in Iran. The film won the

Caméra d'Or The Caméra d'Or ("''Golden Camera''") is an award of the Cannes Film Festival for the best first feature film presented in one of the Cannes' selections (Official Selection, Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des ...

at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. His second feature was '' Marooned in Iraq'' (2002), which brought him the Gold Plaque from the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

. His third feature, ''

Turtles Can Fly ''Turtles Can Fly'' ( ku, کیسەڵەکانیش دەفڕن) is a 2004 Kurdish war drama film written, produced, and directed by Bahman Ghobadi. The film stars Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Faysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman, Abdolrahman K ...

'', followed in 2004, winning the Glass Bear and Peace Film Award at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...

and the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. In 2006, Ghobadi's '' Half Moon'' won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. Iran's renowned actors

Golshifteh Farahani Rahavard Farahani ( fa, رهاورد فراهانی; born 10 July 1983), known professionally as Golshifteh Farahani (), is an Iranian-French actress. She is known for her performances in ''M for Mother'' (2006), '' Body of Lies'' (2008), ''Abo ...

, Hassan Poorshirazi and

Hedyeh Tehrani Hedieh Tehrani ( fa, هديه تهرانی; born June 25, 1972) is an Iranian actress. She is most noted for willingness to play mysterious, stony-faced and cold-hearted women. She has received various accolades, including two Crystal Simorgh, ...

acted in this movie. The music of the movie was made by Iran's musician

Hossein Alizadeh Hossein Alizadeh ( fa, حسین علیزاده) is an Iranian musician, composer, radif-preserver, researcher, teacher, and tar, shurangiz and setar instrumentalist and improviser. He has performed with such musicians as Shahram Nazeri, Mohamma ...

. The film, which was a collaborative project by Iran, France, Austria and Iraq, was shot fully in Iranian Kurdistan. However, it narrates the story of a group of Iranian Kurdish musicians who would like to travel to

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also inc ...

and organize a concert there. In 2006, Index on Censorship gave Ghobadi an Index Film Award for making a significant contribution to freedom of expression through his film ''Turtles Can Fly''. In May 2009, his film ''

No One Knows About Persian Cats ''No One Knows About Persian Cats'' ( fa, کسی از گربه های ایرانی خبر نداره, Kasi az Gorbehaye Irani Khabar Nadareh) is a 2009 Iranian film directed by Bahman Ghobadi produced by Wild Bunch. The film offers the perspectiv ...

'' won an

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

Special Jury Prize ex-aequo when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. This film chronicles the hardships facing young Iranian musicians seeking to evade censorship.

Filmography

As director

As actor

Ghobadi made a cameo appearance in the 2019 film ''The Irishman'', where he portrayed a prison cook who serves Jimmy Hoffa an ice cream sundae. While Ghobadi does not enjoy acting, he says he appeared in the film out of respect for

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...

and Al Pacino.

Notes and references

External links

*
Profiling Bahman QobadiMij FilmIndex Film Award
September 26, 2006 with David Walsh and Joanne Laurier on the ''

World Socialist Web Site The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) is the website of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). It describes itself as an "online newspaper of the international Trotskyist movement". The WSWS publishes articles and analys ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghobadi, Bahman 1969 births Living people People from Baneh Iranian Kurdish people Iranian film directors Iranian screenwriters Iranian male film actors Kurdish film directors Directors of Caméra d'Or winners