Bruno Chatelin with REZA MIRKARIMI Jury President (director, producer Iran)
Reza photographed in Tehran with his colleague who runs the market
Born January 28 1966 in Tehran, it was there that he studied Graphic Arts at the Fine Arts University. His directing debut was in 1987 with a short film called For Him, followed by two TV shows for young adults. His first feature film, The Child and The Soldier (1999), has won several national and international awards. In 2001 his second feature film Under the Moonlight, which deals with social and religious issues, won the Best Feature Award at the 40th Critics' Week during the Cannes International Film Festival. The film also won Best Director as well as the Special Jury Prize at the Tokyo IFF, along with the prizes at festivals in Beirut, San Paolo and Dehli.
In 2008 his fifth film As Simple As That won the Golden St George Best Film Award at the Moscow International Film Festival. In 2016 his latest film Daughter won grand prize at the 38 MIFF , securing the Best Actor award for Farhad Aslani who played the leading role.
Three of Mirkarimi’s films have been presented to the Oscar’s the Best Foreign Language Film by Iran: So Close, So Far (2005), A Cube of Sugar (2011) and Today (2014). Since 2016 Reza Mirkarimi is also the festival director of the Fajr International Film Festival.