ABOUT DIRECTOR
Sahand Sarhaddi (B.1991) is a filmmaker and visual artist grappling with historical archives, literature, and photography, seeking innovative narrative pathways through an unconventional exploration of history and unofficial narratives. He is Alumni of Berlinale Talents 2023 and graduated in Theatre and Dramatic Literature at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Tehran University in 2015. His artistic work focuses on integrating untold stories in history, photography, music, and literature.
In 2006, he started collaborating with some publications as a photographer. In 2010, he also started working in theatre and cinema, mainly as a writer and director, as well as in visual arts. He has participated in more than ten solo and group exhibitions (including photography, video art, and performance art) and created three short and one feature-length film that has been screened at festivals such as Berlinale, Kasseler Dok, Jihlava, Black Movie, Tehran Short Film, Cinema-Verite, Fajr, VideoFormes, MENA and Ibrida. He is also member of the Iranian Documentary Filmmakers Association (IRDFA) / Iranian House of Cinema / Honorary member of Visual Arts Development Institute.
He is winner of the Emerging Video Prize in the 39th VIDEOFORMES Festival, selected as Best Short Documentary of the 2010s in Iranian Cinema and twice selected as Best Short Film of the Year by critics of Fidan Magazine in 2021 and 2023. He participated in Film Focus programme in cooperation with Berlin “InterFilm” in 2021, Berlinale Talent – Short Form Station” Nipkow Programm residency in Berlin as an Artist at Risk, Beykuz Kundura DocLab in Istanbul in 2023
nd Istanbul Cine-Collective Programme in 2024.