Film Director & Writer
An Iranian filmmaker working across shorts, features and documentaries; author of a recently published book and participant in international labs and programs.
Read about meAbbas Taheri is an Iranian filmmaker and writer. After a decade in civil engineering, he turned to cinema, earning both his BA and MA in Film from the University of Art in Tehran. During his studies, he was awarded a competitive grant by Iran’s National Elites Foundation. He is also the author of the book “Festival Gaze”, a postcolonial study examining fifty years of Iranian cinema’s relationship with major international film festivals.
His films — including “The Seashell”, “Aban”, “There Is No Friend’s House”, and “Atmospheric Instability” — have screened and received awards at festivals including the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, Oberhausen, Tallinn Black Nights (PÖFF), Palm Springs, Nashville, IndieLisboa, REGARD, Curtas Vila Do Conde and the Tehran International Short Film Festival. His recent films have been developed as Iran–France co-productions and explore themes of gender inequality, LGBTQIA+ rights, state oppression, the aspirations of Iran’s younger generation, as well as family, loss, and nostalgia.
Taheri is currently working on his debut feature film, “Dwellers of the Sea”. Rooted in the culture of southern Iran, where he was born and raised, the project explores family, memory, gender, and marginalized identities. Selected for international programs including the CASA CINE Residency during Cannes Film Festival and the Pop Up — CNC Residency in Paris, the film is moving forward with international partners toward production.
On the verge of a forced marriage to inherit the family ship, Bibi Mah, a female captain in southern Iran, must choose between securing her future or risking it all to help her fugitive lover, a female singer pursued by state security, escape by sea.
Status
In Development
Sarah and Mehri are two close friends who drank alcohol at school. Their friendship is challenged when Mehri’s father, an influential government agent, confronts them.
Festival selections
Stills
Under constant pressure from her ex-husband, Nazanin should turn their child — Aban, nine years old — away from a very driven feminine taste. One day, Aban goes to the hospital thinking of undergoing life-changing surgery.
Festival selections
Stills
Shayan returns to Iran for his father’s funeral. Recalling their special day with his young father, he refuses to see the body — instead he goes to that special place meant to evoke memories and dreams.
Awards & selections
Stills
A short journey with the Iranian filmmaker Kianoush Ayari — visiting the shooting locations of his old films and gathering interviews with cinema professionals — portraying his angry, rebellious and kind character.
Festival selection
Stills
A young man, deep in university studies and theatre work, forgets his mother. Her frequent calls remind him of a special day — and he abandons everything to meet her, arriving at her tomb while she prepares an imaginary dish for him.
Festival selection
Stills
Book
A postcolonial study of Iranian cinema’s fifty-year relationship with the major international film festivals. Drawing on two years of research into orientalism and postcolonial theory, the book closes with an analysis of ten of the most acclaimed films in the history of Iranian cinema.
Magazine — Chief Editor & Writer
Produced as part of the Nahal Short Film Festival’s commemoration of Iranian filmmaker Ali Hatami. As chief editor, Taheri collected essays from established critics alongside reviews from emerging students — a bilingual keepsake that has since become a small reference for that generation of festival-goers.
Artist Protection Fund Fellowship
Winner of the APF grant for a one-year fellowship to develop the feature-film screenplay All the Majesty of a Kingdom.
CASA CINE Residency — Cannes Film Festival
Selected for development of the debut feature Dwellers of the Sea, a project rooted in the culture of southern Iran.
Pop Up — CNC Residency, Paris
Continued development of Dwellers of the Sea alongside international partners moving the project toward production.
AGORA Short Film Lab — Thessaloniki International Film Festival
Selected as an award-winning short-film director focused on the transition from shorts to feature films.
Fajr International Film Festival Talent Camp (Dar-ol-Fonun)
Selected as an Iranian talent to attend a week-long lab at Iran’s flagship international film festival.
National Elites Foundation Grant
Competitive grant awarded during his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Film at the University of Art, Tehran.
For festival submissions, co-production and press inquiries, please write. Correspondence is usually answered within a week.
