Bahman Ghobadi (; ; born February 1, 1969) is an

Iranian Kurdish Iranian Kurdistan or Eastern Kurdistan () is an unofficial name for the parts of northwestern Iran with either a majority or sizable population of Kurds. Geographically, it includes the West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan province, Kermanshah pr ...

film director, producer and writer. He belongs to the " new wave" of

Iranian cinema The cinema of Iran (), or of Name of Iran, Persia, refers to the film industry in Iran. In particular, Iranian art films have garnered international recognition. Iranian films are usually written and spoken in the Persian language. Iran has bee ...

Biography

He was born in

Baneh Baneh () is a city in the Central District of Baneh County, Kurdistan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Baneh is approximately 30 km (18 miles) from Kurdistan Region in Iraq. History Historica ...

, a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

city in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. His family moved to

Sanandaj Sanandaj (; ) is a city in the Central District of Sanandaj County, in the Kurdistan province of Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. With a population of 414,069, it is the second largest Kurdish city a ...

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 film 8 mm film is a motion picture film format in which the film strip is wide. It exists in two main versions – the original standard 8 mm film, also known as regular 8 mm, and Super 8. Although both standard 8 mm and ...

s. His documentary ''Life in Fog'' won numerous awards. Bahman Ghobadi was assistant director on

Abbas Kiarostami Abbas Kiarostami ( ; 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 over forty films, including s ...

's ''

The Wind Will Carry Us ''The Wind Will Carry Us'' (, ''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 Farrokhzad. In the film, a journalist posi ...

''. 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'' (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 or Critics' Week). The prize was created in 1978 Ca ...

at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

. 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'' (Kurdish: ''Kûsî jî dikarin bifirin'') is a 2004 Kurdish war drama film written, directed and co-produced by Bahman Ghobadi. The film stars Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Faysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman, Abdolrahma ...

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

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

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 (; born 10 July 1983), known professionally as Golshifteh Farahani (), is an Iranian and French actress. She is known for her performances in '' M for Mother'' (2006), '' Body of Lies'' (2008), ''About Elly'' (2009), ''The Pat ...

, Hassan Poorshirazi and Hedyeh Tehrani acted in this movie. The music of the movie was made by Iran's musician

Hossein Alizadeh Hossein Alizadeh (; born August 24, 1951) 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, Mohamm ...

. 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 () refers to the Kurds, Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of Greater Kurdistan in West Asia, which also includes parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdist ...

and organize a concert there. In 2006,

Index on Censorship Index on Censorship is an organisation campaigning for freedom of expression. It produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association wit ...

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'' () 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 ...

'' won an

Un Certain Regard (; '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 with unusua ...

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. In 2012, his next film Rhino Season was released at San Sebastian Film Festival. In this film he worked with Monica Belluci and combined an international cast. Following critical success of this film, he also took part as one of the directors in anthology film

Words with Gods ''Words with Gods'' is a 2014 Mexican-U.S. anthology film. It is the first of a planned series of such films, collectively titled ''Heartbeat of the World''. ''Words with Gods'' consists of segments directed by nine directors. It was screened ou ...

directing the segment Kaboki. In 2015, his feature documentary A Flag without a Country was released. The documentary that premiered at

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

is about Kurds, middle-east war and "Kurdistan", a nation with about 45m population and still without a country. Following this documentary, he got back on fiction and directed

The Four Walls ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

in which he again assembled an international cast featuring Amir Aghaee,

Funda Eryiğit Funda Eryiğit (born 6 November 1984) is a Turkish actress. Early life She is of Turkish, Circassian, and Georgian descent. After graduating from Kadir Has Anatolian High School, she studied International Relations at Istanbul University, and ...

and Denizhan Akbaba. He is currently writing, directing, and producing, and actively participating in supporting human rights and freedom of speech all around the world.

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 James Riddle Hoffa (; born February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975, declared dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 to 1971. He i ...

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 November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

and

Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino ( ; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Known for his intense performances on stage and screen, Pacino is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. His career spans more than five decades, duri ...

Jury Duties

Ghobadi has served as jury president or jury member in many international festivals. * 22nd Busan International Film Festival- New Currents Jury Member, Busan, South Korea, 12-21.10.2017 * 7th

Off Plus Camera International Festival of Independent Cinema Off or OFF may refer to: Art and entertainment * ''Off'' (video game), a video game by Mortis Ghost. *Sven Väth, German DJ and singer who uses the pseudonym OFF * ''Off'' (album), by Ciwan Haco, 2006 * ''Off!'' (album), by Off! *Off!, an Americ ...

, Poland, 2-11 May 2014 * 14th

International Film Festival of Kerala The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...

, December 2009 *

The independent Film festival Off Camera Poland ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

. 1-5 October 2008 *

Eurasia International Film festival Eurasia International Film Festival is an international film festival held in Kazakhstan. With the exception of the fifth, held in Astana, all the editions were held in Almaty Almaty, formerly Alma-Ata, is the List of most populous cities in K ...

, Kazakhstan, 7-13 September, 2008 *

São Paulo International Film Festival The São Paulo International Film Festival (), also known internationally as Mostra, is an annual film festival held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South Ame ...

, October, 2006 * Anonimul International Film Festival, 14 to 19 August 2006 *

Vila do conde International Film Festival Vila may refer to: People *Vila (surname) Places Andorra * Vila, Andorra, a town in the parish of Encamp Brazil * Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade, a municipality in the State of Mato Grosso * Vila Boa, Goiás, a municipality in the State of ...

, Portugal, 3 to 11 July, 2006 * Gwangju International Film Festival, Korea, 28 April to 6 May, 2006 *

Rotterdam International Film Festival International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, ...

, 26 January to 6 February, 2004 *

Cannes International Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around t ...

, Golden Shell district, 2002

Activism

Ghobadi, as an exile filmmaker, started many campaigns for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. In 2021, he wrote a letter to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science to create an initiative to give exile directors possibility to submit their work for best International Film category. He has also played an important role on social media during the protests in Iran following the event of Mahsa Amini's death in September 2022. He informed public and followers about the incidents happening in Iran, supporting the cause of Iranian people standing for themselves and against oppressive Iranian regime. He has also written an open letter to Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science to invite the film industry to support the democratic cause of his people.

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". About The WSWS was established on Fe ...

'' {{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