Granaz Moussavi

Granaz Moussavi (Persian : گراناز موسوی ), is an Iranian-Australian contemporary poet, film director and screenwriter. She is primarily renowned for her avant-garde poetry in the 90s. Her award-winning debut feature film '' My Tehran for Sale'' is an internationally acclaimed Australian-Iranian co-production.

Biography

Granaz was born in December 1976 in Tehran to TV parents, her father, Hashem Moussavi, was a well-known sound engineer in the Iranian National TV (Jaam-e Jam) and in the film industry, and her mother, Parvin Chegini Farahani, a video grader. At the age of 17, she started writing professionally as a book review writer and literary critic at "Donyaye Sokhan literary magazine مجلهٔ ادبی دنیای سخن" in Tehran. Her first poems were published in 1989 and since then, she has continued writing and publishing poetry in various magazines and collections both in Iran and other countries . In Tehran, Granaz went to Razi primary school and Hadaf high-school. Her love for cinema and theatre made her change her mind about the field of tertiary schooling. She withdrew from a B.S. at Alzahra University and took various Drama courses in Tehran focusing on acting, including Hamid Samandarian's drama workshops at The Theatre Organization of Tehran, and Mahin Oskoui's underground acting classes held in her apartment.

In 1997, Granaz immigrated to Australia with her family. She changed her focus from pursuing acting to Screen Studies and filmmaking. In 2002, she made her Honors film ''A Short Film About Colour'', shot by the renowned Iranian cinematographer Firooz Malekzadeh. The short film earned Granaz the best director award from Flinders University and an honorary membership to the Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society (ASDAS).

Granaz published her first book, ''Khatkhati Rooye Shab خط خطی روی شب'' (''Sketching On Night''), underground in Tehran in 1996 to had an extensive reception. Her second book, ''Paberahneh Ta Sobh پابرهنه تا صبح'' (''Barefoot Till Morning''), was the winner of جایزه شعر کارنامه یاجایزه شعر امروز ایران ''Karnameh’s best poetry book of the year award'' in 2001 and is currently in its fourth edition. She published her third collection, ''Avazhaye Zan e Biejazeh آوازهای زن بی اجازه '' (''The Songs of the Forbidden Woman''), in 2003. It has reached its second edition so far. Her poems have been anthologised worldwide and her solo bi-lingual collection was published in France by MEET publishers. Granaz published ''Les Rescapes De La Patience'' (translated by Farideh Rava, and with a preface by Jean Baptiste Para) after a sponsored literary residency in Saint Nazaire, France. Also, in 2004 a DEA thesis at Sorbonne University (Paris III) was lodged on her poetry (by Etienne Forget).

Education and Career

After receiving an Honours degree from Flinders University, Granaz got accepted in AFTRS, the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney. She graduated with a postgraduate degree in film editing in 2006. Currently, she is a doctoral candidate with a scholarship at the University of Western Sydney researching "The Aesthetics of Poetic Cinema". She has made several short films and documentaries and has participated in various roles in a few feature films. In the field of poetry, she has conducted many poetry readings worldwide, including her participation in the Paris Autumn Festival in 2000 (introduced and translated by Media Kashigar, managed by Alain Lance), SOAS/London University in 2001, Vienna and Mondorf/Luxembourg in 2003, Saint Nazaire, Nantes, Marseille, Arles/France in 2004–5, Sydney/Australia in 2005, “Caravan of poetry” through Paris, La Rochelle, Marseille, Poitier, and Nantes/France in 2006, the Fifth International Festival of Poetry “Merci Poesie”, Göteborg/Sweden in 2008, the Iranian Arts and Literature Festival, San Francisco/USA in 2009, and Luxemburg in 2009. Her latest presentation was a lecture followed by poetry reading at Stanford University in February 2009 and University of California at Irvine in January 2011.

There are a number of accounts, articles, and critiques written on Granaz's poetry including the articles of some renowned Iranian writers and critics such as M. Azad, Dr. Jalil Doustkhah, Mohammad Rahim Okhovat, Shahrnoush Parsipour, and Ali Babachahi. Her poetry has been so far translated and published in French, English, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, and Kurdish. In 2006, being shortlisted in local, statewide, and across the country competitions she won the ''Holding Redlich'' prize for her script "pitch" at the Screen Producers Association of Australia. Her prize was a sponsorship for her trip to Cannes Film Festival in 2007 in order to present her project idea in the film market. Her first feature film '' My Tehran for Sale'' (''tehran-e-man, haraj'' تهران من، حراج ) a 2009 production was shot in July/Aug 2008 in Tehran. The film written and directed by Granaz Moussavi is the first feature collaboration of Iran and Australia, premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival (Feb 2009), and an official selection of Toronto International Film Festival (Sep 2009), Vancouver International Film Festival, Pusan International Film Festival (Oct 2009) and International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg (Nov 2009), The Museum of Modern Art ( MoMA) New York (Jan 2010), International Film Festival Rotterdam (Jan 2010), International Film Festival Prague - Febiofest, 2010 Cinema Novo Film Festival Brugges, 2010 CPH:PIX Copenhagen International Film Festival, 2010 Guadalajara International Film Festival Mexico, Sydney Travelling Film Festival, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival, HRAFF 2010, Fukuoka International Film Festival 2010, Global Lens USA 2010 and Dialogue of Cultures Film Festival New York 2011.

'' My Tehran for Sale'' is the winner of Independent spirit Inside Film Awards 2009. It won the jury award for best feature Film at the TriMedia Film Festival in 2010.

''When Pomegranates Howl'' was also nominated for the 14th Annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards as the BEST YOUTH FEATURE FILM.

Awards and recognition

* Best Director Award, Flinders University, 2002
* Jury Award for Best Feature Film at the TriMedia Film Festival, 2010
* Moussavi was the jury for 60th International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg (Germany) 2011, as well as Independent Spirit IF Award 2010 (Australia).

Filmography

* 2020 ''When Pomegranates Howl''

* 2008 '' My Tehran for Sale'', a feature film (as writer/director/produced by Cyan Films) an official selection of Toronto International Film Festival (Sep,2009), winner of Independent spirit Inside Film Awards 2009
* 2008 ''Into Pieces'', a video art.
* 2007 ''Rats Sleep at Night'', a short drama.
* 2006 ''1001 Nights'', a documentary on Persian poetry in exile.
* 2005 ''Narrative Theatre Workshop'', a 5-hour video, Producer: Relationships S.A
* 2004 ''Just Tenants of the Earth'', a 30 minutes documentary on young refugees and migrants in Australia
* 2004 ''A Slice Of Tehran Girls'', a 30-minute documentary on young girls in Tehran.
* 2002 ''A Short Film About Colour'', a 10-minute short fiction, Honours production, Flinders University.
* 2002 An uncompleted documentary on Woomera detention centre.
* 2000 ''A Letter to a Friend'', an 8-minute documentary, University of S.A.
* 1999 ''The Restroom'', an 8-minute doco-drama, Flinders University.
* 1999 ''Smoke'', a 27-second advertisement.

as Editor:

* 2006 ''Love On Track'', a 4 minutes drama, Director: Alison Heather.
* 2005 ''Karma'', 3 minutes experimental short film, Director: Josh Tylor, AFTRS.
* 2005 ''Look Sharp'', an 8 minutes drama, Director: Amy Gebhardt, AFTRS. Winner of Best student film at The International Melbourne Film Festival.
* 2005 ''Rock! I gave you the best years of my life'', a 6 minutes documentary, Director: Mathew Walker, AFTRS.
* 2003-2004 Turtles Can Fly, A feature film by Bahman Ghobadi, Tehran-Iran & Kurdistan-Iraq. (on-set digital editing)

Bibliography/Other Publications

* 1997 ''Sketching On Night'' (Graffiti On Night) “ خط خطی روی شب ”,Tehran
* 2000 ''Barefoot Till Morning'' "پابرهنه تا صبح " was the winner of ''Karnameh’s best poetry book of the year award'' in 2001, Tehran
*
* 2006 ''Les Rescapes De La Patience'', France
* 2011 ''Red Memory'' "حافظه قرمز", Australia
* 2012 ''Canto di Una Donna Senza Permesso'', Italy
*

References

External links

My Tehran For Sale



VOA interview

GRANAZ MOUSSAVI: Biography - Asia Specific Screen Awards

Granaz Moussavi's list of published books

Toronto International Film Festival/My Tehran For Sale

Vancouver International Film Festival/My Tehran For Sale

Moussavi's Film Review at The Hollywood Reporter

Screendaily Review

Indiewire interview



''When Pomegranates Howl'' Nomination

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moussavi, Granaz
1976 births
Iranian women film directors
Iranian film directors
20th-century Iranian poets
Persian-language poets
Iranian women writers
Iranian writers
Living people
Women screenwriters
Al-Moussawi family
Persian-language women poets
Western Sydney University alumni
21st-century Iranian poets