Visiting Artist: Rakhshan Bani-Etemad

“A force to be reckoned with in contemporary cinema.”—British Film Institute

The most prominent woman working in film in Iran today, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad was born in Tehran in 1954 and got her start directing documentaries for television. This focus on realism flows through her films, which incorporate an ethos of social and political consciousness. Her extensive filmography of both documentaries and narratives has shifted over more than 20 years from social satire to personal films, many with a focus on the condition of women in contemporary Iran, which she calls “a society full of contradictions.” Her work has been recognized at the Fajr, Karlovy Vary, and Locarno international film festivals, and her films Our Times and Gilaneh have been screened at past Women with Vision festivals.