Tara Aghdashloo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tara Aghdashloo
تارا آغداشلو
Born	Tehran, Iran
Nationality	Iranian, Canadian, British
Occupation	Writer, Director, Producer, Author
Parents	Aydin Aghdashloo (father) Firouzeh "Fay" Athari (mother)

Tara Aghdashloo (Persian: تارا آغداشلو) is an Iranian-born writer, director, producer and curator. She is a published author of her poetry collection, and has worked as a print and broadcast journalist in Persian and English-language media, before transitioning to films. Tara is represented by Sayle Screen Talent Agency.

Tara is an intersectional feminist has been an advocate for women's rights issues, and has attended panels on issues relating to Iran and the Middle East, as well as discussions on women and diversity in filmmaking.

Biography

Tara Aghdashloo was born in Tehran, to architect Firouzeh "Fay" Athari and painter Aydin Aghdashloo. When she was in high school her family moved to Toronto, Canada.

Tara completed her BA of journalism at Ryerson University with a focus on print journalism and political science, and her MA from London University's School of Oriental and African Studies in Global Media and Postnational Communication. [1]

Work

Film and television

Tara's journalism and Documentaries have appeared on Channel 4 News, and BBC World. She wrote, directed and produced Value of Contemporary Art, Riksdag, Ticket documentary-series, and the seven-part docuseries City Map, among others. She was a founding co-host and producer on the first Persian-speaking all-woman talk show, Samte No on Manoto TV channel. She independently produced and directed documentaries and went onto direct music videos and commercials.

Tara's foray into narrative filmmaking started with her participation at Mohsen Makhmalbaf's filmmaking workshop, who remains as her mentor. Since then, she wrote and directed her first narrative short The Ride which premiered at Cinequest Film Festival in California and was funded by BFI Network, Canada Council of the Arts, and Toronto Arts Council. The Ride competed in numerous festivals and won Best Short film at Nostalgia Film Festival. Her second narrative short film Bridge, was commissioned by BBC based on a spoken-word poem by Gemma Barnett, premiered at Norwich Film Festival, and has been nominated for multiple awards and competed at various international festivals. Her third narrative short, Empty Your Pockets, is her first Persian language film and was produced by OPC Productions and Intermission Films, with its world premiere at BlackStar Festival in Philadelphia.

Writing

Her poetry has appeared in English language and Persian magazines, and her poetry collection, This is Not a Pomegranate, was published by Shahrvand Publications in 2011. Her essays, articles and reviews have been published in The Guardian, REALLIFE Magazine, The New Inquiry, Tank Magazine, Autodidact Magazine, Ibraaz, Fashion Magazine, ArtRabbit, Ottawa Citizen, Future Fossil Flora Magazine, Reorient Magazine, BULLETT and Capsule 98 among others. Tara wrote the lyrics for King Raam's debut solo album, Songs of The Wolves.

In October, 2022, Tara's Op-Ed on the protests that erupted in Iran, was published in The Financial Times. In December 2022, she published another piece about the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran and its impact on society. In February, 2023, Harvard Business Review's Ascend series published a piece by Tara, discussing activism from the diaspora.

Curation

Tara co-directed and curated The Invisible Line (TIL) Gallery in East London for two years and exhibited around 25 shows during that time. In 2017 she curated a retrospective of Portuguese artist Cristina Rodrigues in Castelo Branco Museum. She frequently reviews art especially by Iranian and Middle Eastern artists.

Filmography