Ali Abbasi ( fa, علی عباسی, born 1981) is an Iranian filmmaker. He is best known for his films '' Shelley'' (2016), ''

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

'' (2018), and ''

Holy Spider ''Holy Spider'' ( fa, عنکبوت مقدس, Ankabut-e moqaddas) is a 2022 Persian-language crime thriller film directed by Ali Abbasi (director), Ali Abbasi, starring Mehdi Bajestani and Zar Amir Ebrahimi. Based on the true story of Saeed Hanaei ...

'' (2022). Abbasi also directed the last two episodes of the first season of the series ''

The Last of Us ''The Last of Us'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United States. ' ...

''. He has received various accolades, including an

Un Certain Regard (, meaning '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 w ...

award, four

Robert Awards The Robert Award ( da, Robert prisen) is a Danish film prize awarded each year by the Danish Film Academy. It is the Danish equivalent of the American Oscars, British BAFTAs for films and Australian AACTA Awards. The award—voted only by aca ...

, and a

German Film Award The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the German film industry. Besides being the most important ...

, in addition to nominations for seven

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the most ...

, a

Goya Award The Goya Awards ( es, Premios Goya) are Spain's main national annual film awards, commonly referred to as the Academy Awards of Spain. The awards were established in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sci ...

, and two

Guldbagge Awards The Guldbagge Awards ( sv, Guldbaggen, en, Gold scarab) is an official and annual Swedish film awards ceremony honoring achievements in the Swedish film industry. Winners are awarded a statuette depicting a rose chafer, better known by the nam ...

Early life

Abbasi attended

Tehran Polytechnic Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT) ( fa, دانشگاه صنعتی امیرکبیر), also called the Tehran Polytechnic, is a public technological university located in Tehran, Iran. Founded in 1928, AUT is the second oldest technical univ ...

until 2002, when he emigrated to Sweden to study architecture at the

KTH Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. After earning his bachelor of arts in 2007, he enrolled at the

National Film School of Denmark The National Film School of Denmark ( da, Den Danske Filmskole) is an independent institution under the Ministry of Culture of Denmark, Danish Ministry of Cultural Affairs. It was established in 1966 and is based on Holmen, Copenhagen, Holmen in ...

, earning a degree in 2011 with the short film ''M for Markus''. Abbasi lives in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

and continues to hold an Iranian passport.

Career

2018: ''Border''

In 2018, Abbasi premiered his second film, ''

''. It won the

award at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

, was selected as the Swedish entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

91st Academy Awards The 91st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2018 and took place on February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, A ...

. Even though the film didn't get a nomination in that category, it earned a nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

2022: ''Holy Spider''

His third feature film, ''

'', came out in 2022 and was a Persian-language co-production between Sweden, Denmark, France, and Germany. Based on the true story of

Saeed Hanaei Saeed Hanaei or Said Hanai ( fa, سعید حنایی; 1962 – April 8, 2002) was an Iranian serial killer. Personal life Hanaei was born in 1962. He had a dysfunctional relationship with his mother, who violently abused him; he later claimed t ...

, a serial killer who targeted sex workers and killed sixteen women from 2000 to 2001 in

Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...

, Iran, the film depicts a fictional female journalist investigating a serial killer. The film was selected to compete for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the

2022 Cannes Film Festival The 75th annual Cannes Film Festival is an upcoming film festival scheduled to take place from 17 to 28 May 2022. The festival will see a tribute to actor Tom Cruise, whose film '' Top Gun: Maverick'' is due to premiere at the festival. The off ...

, where it premiered on 22 May 2022.

Zar Amir Ebrahimi Zahra Amir Ebrahimi ( fa, زهرا اميرابراهيمی; born July 9, 1981) known professionally as Zar Amir Ebrahimi (), is an Iranian-French actress, producer and director. She is best known for her performance as journalist Arezoo Rahim ...

, who starred in the film, won the festival's Best Actress Award. The film was selected as the Danish entry for Best International Feature Film at the

95th Academy Awards The 95th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), will honor films released in 2022, and is scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California on March 12, 2023. Comed ...

, and made the December shortlist.

Filmography

Film

Television

Critical reception

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abbasi, Ali 1981 births Living people Iranian film directors Iranian expatriates in Denmark Iranian expatriates in Sweden