Rakhshan Banietemad

Biography

Born in 1954, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad is a graduate of filmmaking from Tehran’s Faculty of Dramatic Arts. She joined Iranian TV 1974 and started her career as a script-girl and assistant director. She directed a number of best documentaries in Iranian TV in early years after the Revolution like The Culture of Consumption (1979), Centralization (1982),… Her three first feature films, Off the Limits (1987), Canary Yellows (1988) and Foreign Currency (1989) were all comedies dealing with social issues, however, her fourth film, Nargess (1991) brought her an international recognition as well as numerous international awards. Her next feature films, The Blue-Veiled (1994), The May Lady (1997), Under Skin of the City (2000), Gilaneh (2005) and Mainline (2006) established her as the most important Iranian woman filmmaker in history of Iranian cinema as well as one of the most prestigious Iranian film directors at international scene. She continued making documentaries between her feature filmmaking career which put her as a very committed filmmakers toward Iranian society. She’s already made 10 feature films, contributed with making a an episode in 3 anthology films, and directed more than 12 documentaries too. She’s now working on her latest feature film, The Tales which will come out in 2013.

Films at the Festival