Rakhshan Banietemad
Rakhshān Banietemad (Persian: رخشان بنیاعتماد; born April 3, 1954 in Tehran, Iran) is an internationally and critically acclaimed Iranian film director and screenwriter who is widely considered a premier female director and her films have been praised at international festivals as well as being popular with Iranian critics and audiences.[1] Her title as “First Lady of Iranian Cinema” is not only a reference to her prominence as a filmmaker, but also connotes her social role of merging politics and family in her work.[2] Her signature style is that she focuses on a character that is the representation of a part of the society in order to explore it while staying objectively neutral. The first period of Banietemad’s cinematic activity originates from a kind of dark humor, but in the second period of her work, dark humor gives way to serious and influential films, and deeper and broader issues are addressed. Banietemad has a more realistic view of life.…. more
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 are ‘Zard-e Ghanari (1988)’, ‘Pul-e Khareji (1989)’, ‘Nargess (1992)’ and ‘Rusari Abi (1995)’…. more
Rakhshan Bani-Etemad (1954, Tehran, Iran) was one of the first women to make films after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. She is now the foremost woman director in her country, enjoying both national and international renown. Bani-Etemad extends the boundaries of officially permitted imagination. Her work appeals to women in her own country and beyond, subtly researching and presenting womanhood and moving people’s hearts and minds…. more
One of Iran’s most celebrated directors, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad (b. 1954) embodies two important trends in Iranian cinema – the nation’s long and diverse tradition of innovative documentary filmmaking, dating back before the 1979 revolution, and Iran’s perhaps surprising number of women directors, including Tamineh Milani, Niki Karimi, Samira Makhmalbaf and Bani-Etemad herself…. more