In The Mirror, Ardalan Sarfaraz

I was born in 1980 in Tehran, the capital of Iran. I finished my studies in Graphic Design and Visual Arts in Tehran Azad University. I have exhibited my works at different art galleries around the world. I have also participated in different art related residency programs. I started my career as a visual artist and I’ve had over two dozen exhibitions. 

In 2010, when I was a photographer on a documentary film in the slums of Mumbai, I got tuberculosis that almost took my life. The following two years I was struggling with my sickness that changed my life and art forever. I became interested in people’s daily lives and struggles. 

In 2004, I started my debut feature documentary “Here the Seats Are Vacant” about the life of an Iranian actress after the Revolution, who was completely eliminated from the screen and turned her life upside down. The film won the Pioneer Female Director Award at Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival in 2017. I was commissioned by Arte channel to make a 26-minute documentary that premiered on the network in June 2018. My next movie was “Red Lipstick” that premiered in Cinema Verite Festival in Dec 2018. 

I have recently finished another feature documentary about the life of famous Persian lyricist “Ardalan Sarfaraz”. I am currently in the final stages of finishing my film “ A pot full of hopes” that is about devoted food in different religious groups in Iran.