Mehrdad Oskouei

Mehrdad Oskouei
مهرداد اسکویی
Personal details
Born (1969-09-12) September 12, 1969
Tehran, Iran
Occupation Film director, screenwriter, producer, and photographer

Mehrdad Oskouei (Persian: مهرداد اسکویی‎‎; born in Tehran, Iran in 1969) is an Iranian independent producer, director and screenwriter of documentary films and film educator.

Biography

Iranian filmmaker, photographer and researcher. MFA in film directing from the Department of Film and Theater of Tehran University of Fine Arts. Most of his films have been shown at respected festivals both at home and abroad with many receiving critical acclaim. His films being shown at over 400 national and international film festivals in over 50 countries and having won over 90 awards makes him one of the most outstanding Iranian documentary makers. In 2010, Oskouei received the Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands for his achievements.[1]

Oskouei has attended various international film festival studies programs including The Berlinale Talent Campus, The German Academy of Fine Arts, The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam Academy (IDFAcademy) as well as film workshop in France, England, Poland, Switzerland, the UAE and Germany under such esteemed filmmakers as: Albert Maysles, Richard Leacock, Frederick Wiseman, Edward Mills-Aslim, Ross McElwee, Nick broomfield, Kim Longinotto, Viktor Kossakovsky, Wim Wenders, Anthony Minghella, Yemane Demissie, Manuela Migoshco, Leonard Retel Helmrich and Walter Murch.[2]

In 2010, Oskouei received the life-time achievement in documentary making from the Iranian Documentary Filmmakers Association at the House of Cinema awards ceremony.In January 2015, The Gilan province Islamic Cultural Center awarded him for his archival research and pictorial history of their province. Oskouei directed the Iranian Cultural Special Documentary Committee from 2004 until 2008. His film The Last Days of Winter was screened in France in 2013. He was a founding member of the Institute of Anthropology and Culture, where he interviewed many prominent Iranian and foreign filmmakers and artists.[3]

In 2016, Oskouei was awarded best director prizes for the film at both the Cinéma Vérité and Fajr film festivals in Iran and the Amnesty International Prize at the Berlinale (an award he shared with the festival’s Golden Bear winner, Fire at Sea). He also had been honoring as the recipient of the festival’s True Vision Award at True/False Film Fest in Missouri.[4]

Oskouei has been a judge at over 100 renowned film festivals, as well as being a cultural ambassador for the United Nation's humanitarian committee UCHA.[5] Oskouei is also a on the board of; Iranian Short Film Association, Documentary Filmmakers of Iran, The National Iranian Photographers Association, European Documentary Network EDN, International Documentary Association IDA. He also teaches at film schools around Iran as well as being active in the Tehran Arts and Culture Association.

Oskouei has been awarded many prizes. Here is a partial list; The icon from IDFA Netherlands,The Reva and David Logan Grand Jury Award & Full Frame Inspiration Award, Icon for Berlin film festival, Icon for best film at Hot Docs festival/ Canada, Golden Dragon award best film, krakow festival, Best Documentary at Munich/Germany, Best film Documentary Festival Montreal/ Canada, Special Award Montevideo Bulgaria,Best Documentary Voladero, Mexico.

Filmography

Oskouei made dozens of documentary films such as:

International Film Festival & Awards

Performance Art

Mehrdad Oskouei performance art directorial debut at Shirin Gallery in Tehran, Nov. 2015 along with Sarvnaz Alambeigi as well as Atieh Atarzadeh and Loghman Khaledi.[17]

A conversation is a dialog that happens between two or more people. In documentary filmmaking there are many ways of entering into a dialog with the subject and the result is recorded. What the audience sees in the end is the product of these dialogs. In the collection of films shown at Shirin Gallery, the artists struggle to attain this concept of dialog in documentary film through various approaches with this dialog, and then by removing the documentary itself enter into a dialog inside the gallery in different ways. Oskouei explains this performance as "…We have created an atmosphere where adults could imagine what laws they could have broken as children that would have sent them to a juvenile correction institute. We created a minimal setting that resembled the detention facility, volunteers confessed, filled out forms and were given uniforms, they were weighed and measured and were quarantined. Finally they were told that the documentary was about to begin and asked if they were they ready to be interviewed. Most agreed to be interviewed. What took me unaware and made this performance unique for me were the reactions of the participants. Their discomfort and anxiety was enough to transform them into real criminals.

Bibliography

Yasavoli Publishers, Tehran, 1997

Yasavoli Publishers Tehran, 1999

Yasavoli Publishers Tehran, 2001

Nashre Honarmand Publishers, 2013

Realized by Oskouei Ilya Publishers, 2014

Narration

Tehran, 2014

Novin Talking Book Publishers, Tehran, 2014

Photography

Oskouei is also a documentary photographer. He travels throughout Iran giving seminars on this art. He is undoubtedly one of the hardest working artists in this field.

Group Exhibitions

With Mohammad Tehrani, Koroush Shabgard and Babak Forutani, Green Gallery, Tehran, 2001

With Mohammad Tehrani, Koroush Shabgard and Babak ForoutaniPhoto House of Iran, Tehran, 2001

Pardis Mellat Gallery, Tehran, 2013

References

  1. ↑ http://www.princeclausfund.org/en/news/mehrdad-oskouei-in-ny-times.html
  2. ↑ http://www.cinemakhabar.ir/NewsDetails.aspx?ID=42001
  3. ↑ http://www.anthropology.ir/node/3996
  4. ↑ http://hazlitt.net/feature/time-they-banished-me-id-already-finished-filming-interview-mehrdad-oskouei
  5. ↑ http://www.khanehcinema.ir/fa/indexfa.aspx?mid=27&NewsID=882&type=8 خانه سینمای ایران
  6. ↑ http://www.dreamlabfilms.com/mehrdad-oskouei/
  7. ↑ http://www.dreamlabfilms.com/mehrdad-oskouei/#more-3111
  8. ↑ http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/408577/Starless-Dreams-wins-APSA-best-doc-award
  9. ↑ http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/407363/Starless-Dreams-crowned-best-at-London-filmfest
  10. ↑ http://www.iran-daily.com/News/169606.html
  11. ↑ http://en.mehrnews.com/news/119108/BIFF-to-screen-Starless-Dreams
  12. ↑ http://dokufest.com/dokufest-xv-winners-announced/
  13. ↑ https://www.berlinale.de/media/pdf_word/service_7/66_ifb/66_Berlinale_Awards.pdf
  14. ↑ http://wiadomosci.onet.pl/przyznano-nagrody-6-festiwalu-filmowego-planete-doc-review/ye2dp
  15. ↑ http://www.edn.dk/video/its-always-late-for-freedom/
  16. ↑ http://www.molodist.com/en/submition
  17. ↑ http://www.shiringallery.com/exhibitions/conversation-installation-fim-performance/
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