Bahman Ghobadi ( fa, بهمن قبادی; ; born 1 February 1969 in Baneh, Kurdistan province, Iran) is an

Iranian Kurdish Iranian Kurdistan or Eastern Kurdistan ( ku, ڕۆژھەڵاتی کوردستان, translit=Rojhilatê Kurdistanê) is an unofficial name for the parts of northwestern Iran with either a majority or sizable population of Kurds. Geographically, ...

film director, producer and writer. He belongs to the " new wave" of Iranian cinema.

Biography

He was born in Baneh, a Kurdish city in Iran. His family moved to

Sanandaj Sanandaj ( Persian: سنندج, ; ku, سنە, Sine, often romanized as Senneh, is the capital of Kurdistan Province in Iran. With a population of 414,069, Sanandaj is the twenty third largest city in Iran and the second largest Kurdish city. Sa ...

in 1981. Ghobadi received a Bachelor of Arts in film directing from

Iran Broadcasting College The Iran Broadcasting University ( fa, دانشگاه صدا و سیما, ''Dāneshgāh-e Sedā va Simā'') formerly known as the Iran Broadcasting College ( fa, دانشکده صدا و سیما, ''Dāneshkade-ye Sedā va Simā'') is a public uni ...

. After a brief career in industrial photography, Ghobadi began making short

8 mm film 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

s. His documentary ''Life in Fog'' won numerous awards. Bahman Ghobadi was assistant director on Abbas Kiarostami's '' The Wind Will Carry Us''. Bahman Ghobadi founded Mij Film in 2000, a company with the aim of production of films in Iran about its different ethnic groups. His first feature film was '' A Time for Drunken Horses'' (2000), the first Kurdish film produced in Iran. The film won the Caméra d'Or 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 ...

. His second feature was '' Marooned in Iraq'' (2002), which brought him the Gold Plaque from the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the compo ...

. His third feature, '' Turtles Can Fly'', followed in 2004, winning the Glass Bear and Peace Film Award at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

and the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. In 2006, Ghobadi's '' Half Moon'' won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. Iran's renowned actors Golshifteh Farahani, Hassan Poorshirazi and Hedyeh Tehrani acted in this movie. The music of the movie was made by Iran's musician Hossein Alizadeh. The film, which was a collaborative project by Iran, France, Austria and Iraq, was shot fully in Iranian Kurdistan. However, it narrates the story of a group of Iranian Kurdish musicians who would like to travel to

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also inc ...

and organize a concert there. In 2006,

Index on Censorship Index on Censorship is an organization campaigning for freedom of expression, which produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association w ...

gave Ghobadi an Index Film Award for making a significant contribution to freedom of expression through his film ''Turtles Can Fly''. In May 2009, his film '' No One Knows About Persian Cats'' won 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 ...

Special Jury Prize ex-aequo when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. This film chronicles the hardships facing young Iranian musicians seeking to evade censorship.

Filmography

As director

As actor

Ghobadi made a cameo appearance in the 2019 film ''The Irishman'', where he portrayed a prison cook who serves Jimmy Hoffa an ice cream sundae. While Ghobadi does not enjoy acting, he says he appeared in the film out of respect for

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, incl ...

and

Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Al Pacino, numerous accolades: including an Aca ...

Notes and references

External links

*
Profiling Bahman QobadiMij FilmIndex Film Award
September 26, 2006 with David Walsh and Joanne Laurier on the ''

World Socialist Web Site The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) is the website of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). It describes itself as an "online newspaper of the international Trotskyist movement". The WSWS publishes articles and analysi ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghobadi, Bahman 1969 births Living people People from Baneh Iranian Kurdish people Iranian film directors Iranian screenwriters Iranian male film actors Kurdish film directors Directors of Caméra d'Or winners