MAJID MAJIDI Iranian Director

Majid Majidi was born in Tehran in 1959. At the age of 14 he started acting in amateur theater groups. He then studied at the Institute of Dramatic Arts. After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, his interest in cinema brought him to act in various films, most notably Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Boycott [1985] and Teer Baran [1986] by Ali Azghar Shadaravan. His debut as a Director and Screenwriter is marked by Baduk (1992), film that was presented at the Quinzaine of Cannes [Directors Fortnight] and won several awards nationwide. Majidi was the only Iranian director who has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film with the film Children of Heaven in 1997. He lost the award to the Italian film Life Is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni.But, the film won the Best Film at Montreal International Film Festival.Majidi then directed The Color of Paradise (1999) which also won the Best Film award at Montreal International Film Festival. This film has also been selected as one of the best 10 films of year 2000 by Time Magazine and the Critics Picks of the New-York Times. Baran (2001) has won several major awards worldwide, again the Best Film at the Montreal World Film Festival and nominated for the European Film Academy Award. The Willow Tree (2005; alternate English title: One Life More) doesnt claimed any international awards but, won four awards at the 2005 Fajr Festival in Tehran.He also directed a feature-length documentary titled Barefoot to Herat which chronicles life in refugee camps and the city of Herat during and after the anti-Taliban offensive of 2001. Barefoot to Herat has won the Fipresci Award at Thessaloniki Festival.

Majjid Majid has received the Douglas Sirk Award in 2001, and the Amici Vittorio de Sica Award in 2003.

Majid Majidi was one of five international film directors invited by the Chinese government to create a documentary short film to introduce the city of Beijing, in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.

Filmography:

Explosion (Enfejar) (1981) - documentary short
Hoodaj (1984) - short
Examination Day (Rooz-e Emtehan) (1988) - short
A Day with POWs (Yek Rooz Ba Asiran) (1989) - documentary short
Baduk (1992) - debut feature
The Last Village (Akhareen Abadi) (1993) - short
Father (Pedar) (1996) - feature
God Will Come (Khoda Miayad) (1996) - short
Children of Heaven (Bacheha-ye Aseman) (1997) - feature
The Color of Paradise (Rang-e Khoda) (1999) - feature
Baran (Rain) (2001) - feature
Barefoot to Herat (Pa berahneh ta Herat) (2002) - documentary
Olympics in the Camp (Olympik Tu Urdugah) (2003) - documentary short
The Willow Tree (Beed-e Majnoon) (2005) - feature
Peace, Love, and Friendship (2007) - documentary short
Kashmir Afloat - in production.