Tina Gharavi ( born 1 July 1972) is an Iranian-born British artist, director and screenwriter. She has been nominated for

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

and

Sundance A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony. Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to: Places ;Canada * Sundance, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * Sundance, Manitoba, a ghost town ;United States * Sundance, New Mexico, a census-designated pl ...

awards. Her projects explore themes of equality and diversity.

Early life and education

Gharavi was born in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

. She attended high school in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. She initially trained as a painter in the United States before entering the film industry.

Career

In 2011, Gharavi directed two episodes of '' The Tunnel'', the British adaptation of ''

The Bridge The Bridge may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Art * ''The Bridge'' (sculpture), a 1997 sculpture in Atlanta, Georgia, US * Die Brücke (''The Bridge''), a group of German expressionist artists * ''The Bridge'' (M. C. Escher), a lithograph ...

'' for Sky, as well as two episodes of ''

Ackley Bridge ''Ackley Bridge'' is a British comedy drama series set in a multicultural academy school of the same name. The series is set in the fictional town of Ackley, and filmed in Halifax, West Yorkshire and it began broadcasting on Channel 4 on 7 Jun ...

'' for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. Her debut feature film, '' I Am Nasrine'', was released in 2013. It was nominated for a BAFTA for outstanding debut.

Sir Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Grammy Award, and two Golden Glo ...

, a patron of the film, called it "an important and much-needed film". Peter Bradshaw of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' gave the film four stars, writing that it was "a valuable debut, shot with a fluent kind of poetry". In April 2023, Gharavi addressed criticism regarding the casting of Black actress Adele James as

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

in the Netflix series '' Queen Cleopatra'', which she directed. In 2024, Gharavi was announced as the director of ''The Shah, the Spy and the Madman'', a documentary series on the 1953 coup d'état in Iran. In December of that year, Gharavi was announced as the showrunner for ''The Fox'', an international crime thriller series based on the bestselling Icelandic detective novels by Sólveig Pálsdóttir. Gharavi is an associate professor in Film & Digital Media at the University of Newcastle. She was invited to join the

Academy in 2017 and received a Fellowship from the

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

Documentary Lab in Boston.

Production

In 1998, Gharavi established the film company Bridge +Tunnel, a multidisciplinary media production company. The company uses media to highlight underrepresented stories from minority and marginalized communities.

Selected filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gharavi, Tina Living people 1972 births Iranian film directors British film directors British directors Film directors from New Jersey New Zealand film directors Iranian women film directors British women film directors Iranian emigrants to the United Kingdom Iranian emigrants to the United States Film people from Tehran Iranian women screenwriters