Reza Mirkarimi, a renowned Iranian screenwriter and film director, was born on January 28, 1967, in Tehran. He graduated from Fine Arts University in graphic arts in Tehran. Throughout his illustrious career, Mirkarimi has won numerous accolades, including seven Golden Simorgh awards at the Fajr International Film Festival, and three of his films have been presented by Iran for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
Mirkarimi's cinema activities began in 1987 with a short film titled For Him, shot on 16mm camera, followed by a series of shorts and two TV series aimed at young people. His first feature film, The Child and The Soldier, released in 1999, won several national and international awards, including the Golden Butterfly at the Isfahan International Children and Youth Film Festival, Iran, the Montgolfiere d'Argent at the Festival of 3 Continents, Nantes, France, and the Golden Shoe at the Children and Teenagers Film Festival in Zelin, Croatia.
Under the Moonlight, Mirkarimi's second feature, released in 2000, dealt with social and religious issues and won the Best Feature Award at the 40th Critics' Week in 2001 at the Cannes International Film Festival, as well as the Best Director's Award and the Special Jury Prize at the Tokyo IFF in 2001, and the Golden Peacock Award at the International Film Festival of India.
Mirkarimi's fourth and fifth feature films, As Simple as That, released in 2007, and Daughter, released in 2016, won the Golden George Award for the Best Picture at the 30th and the 38th Moscow International Film Festival, respectively. His film, Castle of Dreams, released in 2019, won three awards for the best picture, the best director, and the best actor at the Shanghai International Film Festival.
Throughout his career, Mirkarimi has sat on several international film festival juries, including the Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia, the Tokyo International Film Festival in Japan, the Carthage Film Festival in Tunisia, the Bogota International Film Festival in Colombia, the Golden Apricot – Yerevan International Film Festival in Armenia, and as jury president at the 39th Moscow International Film Festival. He has also served as managing director of Khane-ye Cinema, the Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds.
Mirkarimi has also held the position of director of the Fajr International Film Festival for four consecutive years from 2016 to 2019 and was the Secretary of the International Film Festival of the Fajr Film Festival.
