Mohammad Gorjestani |
---|
Born | (1984-02-08) February 8, 1984 (age 40)
|
---|
Nationality | Iranian-American |
---|
Occupation(s) | Director, Writer, Producer and cinematographer |
---|
Years active | 2007–present |
---|
Mohammad Gorjestani (born February 8, 1984) is an Iranian-American writer, director, and producer.[1][2] He is best known for Exit 12, Sister Hearts and Refuge.[3][4][5]
Life and career
Gorjestani was born in Tehran, Iran. His family fled to the United States in 1988 due to the Iran/Iraq War. He attended Cupertino High School and later attended the Vancouver Film School.[1] His thesis film, The Shade, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007 and was later acquired by the BBC.[6]
Gorjestani received film grants from ITVS, for his near future short film Refuge, starring Nikohl Boosheri, and screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and SXSW Film Festival.[7] He was named one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film.[8] His most recent short film, Exit 12, was acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures.[9]
Gorjestani has earned 9 Vimeo Staff Picks for his works.[2] He created “The Happy Birthday Project”, a series of short films on Police killings in America.[10] He is also a 2x recipient of the San Francisco Film Society's Kenneth Rainin Foundation (KRF) Filmmaking Grant for his feature film, currently in development.[citation needed] He is co-founder of Even/Odd.[11]
Filmography
- The Shade (Sayeh) (2007) (Also writer)
- Refuge (2013) (Also writer)
- Happy Birthday Oscar Grant (2015)
- MissMe: The Artful Vandal (2016)
- Happy Birthday Philando Castile (2016)
- Happy Birthday Mario Woods (2016)
- The Boombox Collection: Boots Riley (2016)
- The Boombox Collection: Zion I (2016)
- Yassin Falafel (2017)
- Made in Iowa (2017)
- Lakota in America (2017)
- Sister Hearts (2018)
- Exit 12 (2019) (Also writer)
Awards and nominations
External links
References