Best Iranian Directors

1. Bahram Beyzaie

Bahram Beizai started skipping school from around the age of 17 in order to go to movies which were becoming popular in Iran at a rapid pace. This only fed his hunger to learn more about cinema and the visual arts. By 1961 he had already spent a lot of time studying-and researching- ancient persian...

2. Asghar Farhadi

Writer | Forooshande

Asghar Farhadi was born in 1972 in Iran. He became interested in cinema in his teenage years and started his filmmaking education by joining the Youth Cinema Society of Esfahan in 1986 where he made 8mm and 16mm short films. He received his Bachelors in Theater from University of Tehran's School of...

3. Abbas Kiarostami

Writer | Copie conforme

Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. He graduated from university with a degree in fine arts before starting work as a graphic designer. He then joined the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where he started a film section, and this started his career ...

4. Ali Hatami

Director | Hezardastan

Abbas Ali Hatami was born in Tehran, Iran in 1944. He graduated from the College of Dramatic Arts and began his professional career as a writer of short TV screenplays and also as a playwright. Among his plays are: The Demon and the Bald Hassan, Adam and Eve, The Fisherman's Story, City of Oranges,...

5. Majid Majidi

Writer | Bacheha-Ye aseman

Majid Majidi was born on April 17, 1959 in Tehran, Iran to a middle class family. He started acting in amateur theater groups at the age of fourteen. After receiving his high school diploma, he started studying art at the Institute of Dramatic Art in Tehran. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, ...

6. Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Writer | Gabbeh

Mohsen Makhmalbaf is known as one of the most influential filmmakers and founders of the new wave of Iranian cinema in the world today.

Many of his films like Salam Cinema, A Moment Of Innocence, Gabbeh, Kandahar and The President have been widely well received across the globe and have brought him ...

7. Dariush Mehrjui

Director | Gaav

Dariush Mehrjui was born to a middle-class family in Tehran. He showed interest in painting miniatures, music, and playing santoor and piano. He spent a lot of time going to the movies, particularly American films which were un-dubbed and inter-spliced with explanatory title cards that explained ...

8. Masud Kimiai

Director | Dandan-e-mar

Massoud Kimiaei was born in Tehran in 1941. He became well known when in 1969 he directed his second film, Gheisar (1969), which was considered a turning point in the Iranian cinema; he depicted the ethics and morals of the romanticized poor working class of the Croesus' Treasure (1965) genre ...

9. Amir Naderi

Writer | Vegas: Based on a True Story

Amir Naderi is one of the most influential figures of 20th century Persian cinema. He developed his knowledge of cinema by watching films at the theater where he worked as a boy, reading film criticism, and making relationships with leading film critics. He began his career with still photography ...

10. Nasser Taghvai

Director | Kaghaz-e bikhat

Naser Taghvai is an Iranian film director and screenwriter. Naser Taghvai was born in Abadan, Iran. After early experiences as a story writer, he began filming documentaries in 1967. He made his debut, Tranquility in the Presence of Others, in 1970 and gained the attention of Iranian critics. He ...

11. Ebrahim Hatamikia

Director | Be name pedar

Ebrahim Hatamikia, who is internationally renowned for his role in the cinema of Iran in the 1990s, was born in 1961 in Tehran, Iran from an Azarbaijani's family. He left the Art University where he studied script writing. He began his directing career with the film "The Identity" in 1986 and some ...

12. Bahman Ghobadi

Director | Lakposhtha parvaz mikonand

Bahman Ghobadi was born in 1969 in Baneh, in the province of Iranian Kurdistan, near the Iran-Iraq border. Shortly after graduating from the National Audiovisual School, he made his first short, immediately acclaimed by the local critics. One of these short films, "Life in Fog" (1999) is even ...

13. Reza Mirkarimi

Producer | Be hamin sadegi

Reza Mirkarimi was born in 1967 in Tehran and graduated from the Fine Arts University in Graphic Arts. His cinema activities began in 1987 with a series of shorts followed by two TV series aimed at young people. His 1999 first feature, 'The Child and The Soldier', has won several national and ...

14. Rasoul Sadrameli

Director | Man, Taraneh, panzdah sal daram

Rasoul Sadrameli was born in December 1954 in Isfahan, Iran. The Managing Director of MILAD FILM (established in 1979, the first company in distribution and production of Iranian films after revolution) began his journalism career while he was just 17, and he collaborated with Etela'at Newspaper as...

15. Rakhshan Banietemad

Director | Zir-e poost-e shahr

Graduated in the field of film directing from The Faculty of Dramatic Arts and joined the Iranian TV in 1973 beginning her career as continuity girl and assistant director. Later on, she made a number of short documentaries and directed her first picture 'Kharej az Mahdudeh (1986)'. Her next films ...

16. Rasool Mollagholi Poor

Director | Parvaz dar shab

Rasool Mollagholi Poor was born in 1955 in Tehran, Iran. He was a director and writer, known for The Flight in the Night (1987), Hiva (1999) and The Possessed (1990). He died on March 5, 2007 in Nowshahr, Iran.

17. Abdolreza Kahani

Director | Bist

Abdolreza Kahani is an award-wining Iranian director. He has a Master of Art in theatre from the University of Tehran. Kahani's career began by making experimental short films and documentaries at the age of thirteen. His first feature film "Dance with the Moon" was debuted in 2004. Kahani created ...

18. Kamal Tabrizi

Director | Marmoulak

Kamal Mosaffa-ye Tabrizi is an Iranian film director. He was born in Tehran, with his parents having moved there from Tabriz. Kamal Tabrizi graduated from Tehran University of Art at Faculty of Cinema and Theater. He began his career with directing, writing and editing short films in 1980. His ...

19. Pouran Derakhshandeh

Director | Hiss Dokhtarha Faryad Nemizanand

Pouran Derakhshandeh was born in 1951 in Iran. She is a director and producer, known for Hush! Girls Don't Scream (2013), Under the Smoky Roof (2017) and Little Bird of Happiness (1988).

20. Bahman Farmanara

Director | Booye kafoor, atre yas

Bahman Farmanara is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film producer. Bahman Farmanara is the second son in a family of four brothers and one sister. The family business was Textile and he was the only son who did not join the business and went off to United Kingdom and later on to United ...

21. Tahmineh Milani

Writer | Nimeye Penhan

Tahmineh Milani (born 1 September 1960) is a professional film director, screenwriter, and producer who came to the limelight by breaking all the traditional and conventional norms about women and their presence in Iran's society. Being sentenced to prison have not stopped her from expressing their...

22. Sohrab Shahid Saless

Director | Tabiate bijan

Sohrab Shaheed Salles was born in Tehran in 1944 to a middle-class family and lived in Tehran. Shahid Saless was a storyteller as a child, with a passion for visualizing his narrations. During his teenage years, he showed an imaginative talent, writing and acting in plays with friends. In 1963, ...

23. Dariush Farhang

Director | Telesm

Dariush Farhang is known for The Spell (1987), The Psycho (1997) and The Path of Glory (1994). He has been married to Rozita Arbabian since 1999. They have one child. He was previously married to Susan Taslimi.

24. Sirus Alvand

Director | Yek-bar-baraye-hamishe

Sirus Alvand was born on January 31, 1951 in Tehran, Iran. He is a writer and director, known for Once for Ever (1993), Hotel carton (1997) and Bandari (1973).

25. Abolhassan Davoodi

Director | Rokhe Divaneh

Abolhassan Davoodi is known for Crazy Rook (2015), Motherland (2009) and Pickpockets Don't Go to Heaven (1992).

26. Ebrahim Golestan

Director | Khesht va Ayeneh

Ebrahim Golestan is an Iranian filmmaker and literary figure with a career spanning half a century. He has lived in Sussex, United Kingdom, since 1975. He was closely associated with the controversial and eminent Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad until her death, whom he met at his studio in 1958. He...

27. Jafar Panahi

Director | Taxi

Jafar Panahi (Born 11 July 1960) is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, commonly identified with the Iranian New Wave film movement. After several years of making short films and working as an assistant director for fellow Iranian film-maker Abbas Kiarostami, Panahi achieved ...

28. Parviz Shahbazi

Writer | Nafas-e amigh

Parviz Shahbazi is a highly acclaimed Iranian filmmaker renowned for his independent films that prominently delve into social issues and the interplay between diverse generations. His cinematic journey has led him to grace some of the most prestigious film festivals worldwide, including the Cannes,...

29. Vahid Jalilvand

Director | Bedoone Tarikh, Bedoone Emza

Vahid Jalilvand is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, actor, voice actor and film editor. His first directed film, Wednesday, May 9 (2015) (Chaharshanbeh, 19 Ordibehesht), has received massive admiration from multiple national and international film festivals. He received Fipersci Award in ...

30. Yadollah Samadi

Director | Apartment No.13

Yadollah Samadi is known for Apartment No.13 (1990), The Man Who Knew too Much (1985) and The Bus (1986).

31. Siroos Moghaddam

Director | Paytakht

Siroos Moghaddam is known for Capital (2011), Michael (2015) and Nargess (2006).

32. Kambuzia Partovi

Writer | Café Transit

Kambuzia Partovi was born on February 8, 1956 in Rasht, Iran. He was a writer and director, known for Border Café (2005), The Truck (2018) and The Fish (1989). He was married to Nasrin Moradi and Fereshteh Sadre Orafaiy. He died on November 24, 2020 in Tehran, Iran.

33. Mehdi Fakhimzadeh

Actor | Be dadam beres rafigh

Mehdi Fakhimzadeh is an Iranian actor, director, and writer.

His first experience as an actor was in "Chubby Boy" by Reza Mir Louhi. He has starred in "Ghorbatiha" by Jamshid Varzandeh, "Brothers in Blood" by Kamran Ghadakchian, "Azar, Shahdokht, Parviz and Others" directed by Behrouz Afkhami. He ...

34. Shahram Mokri

Director | Mahi va gorbeh

Shahram Mokri was born on August 17, 1978 in Kermanshah, Iran. He is a director and writer, known for Fish & Cat (2013), Careless Crime (2020) and Ashkan, the Charmed Ring and Other Stories (2008).

35. Pari Saberi

Actress | Shabe ghuzi

Pari Saberi is known for Night of the Hunchback (1965), Brick and Mirror (1966) and Legend of the Azure City (1991).

36. Kamran Shirdel

Director | Tanhaee-ye avval

Kamran Shirdel was born in 1939 in Tehran, Iran. He is a director and editor, known for Tanhaee-ye avval (2002), The Morning of the Fourth Day (1972) and Gas, Fire, Wind (1986).

37. Samuel Khachikian

Director | Ghesseye shab-e Yalda

Born 1923 in Tabriz to a family of Armenian immigrants. Khachikian's father escaped the Armenian Genocide in 1915 and settled in Tabriz. His mother admired cinema and the arts and often took her children to the theater. Samuel Khachikian published his first poem "The Prison" in the Armenian ...

38. Behruz Afkhami

Director | Azar, Shahdokht, Parviz va digaran

Behruz Afkhami was born in 1956 in Tehran, Iran. He is a director and writer, known for Azar, Shahdokht, Parviz and Others (2014), The River's End (2003) and The Morning of the Execution (2024).

39. Kianoush Ayari

Editor | Abadani-Ha

Kianoush Ayari was born on May 14, 1951 in Ahvaz, Khuzestan, Iran. He is an editor and director, known for The Abadanis (1993), To Be or Not to Be (1998) and Wake Up, Arezoo! (2005).

40. Muhammad Bozorgnia

Writer | Jang-e naftkesh-ha

Muhammad Bozorgnia is known for Battle of Oil Tankers (1994), A Place to Live (2003) and The Ship Angelica (1989).