Tina Gharavi's Page

Tina Gharavi
BIO (MARCH 2010)

Born in Tehran, Iran, Tina Gharavi is an award-winning filmmaker, artist, and academic trained in the United States and France. Her work has been broadcast internationally (ITV and Channel 4 in the UK, Showtime in the US and screened at the Sundance Film Festival) and she is noted for documentary, fiction and cross-platform interactive work on migration as well using innovative techniques to bring untold stories of marginalised people and subjects to a mainstream audience.

In 2001 Closer, her first 35mm short film was an official selection at Sundance. Sundance programmer Shari Frilot commented that ‘it takes documentary to the next level.’ Gharavi’s next major production chronicled her return to her mother’s house in Iran, 23 years after the Islamic Revolution. Mother/Country was broadcast at prime time on Channel 4 in the UK where it received top billing and the London Evening Standard described it as “genuinely moving.”

Gharavi has recently completed a documentary about the oldest Arab/Muslim Community in Britain and the day world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali got married in the local mosque, THE KING OF SOUTH SHIELDS. Her first feature film, ALI IN WONDERLAND, is currently in post-production and is a uniquely painted portrait of two teenage Iranian refugees who arrive in England. Gharavi, herself a refugee, is using innovative distribution outlets that will allow the film to be viewed in schools across the UK as part of the citizenship curriculum in schools (for trailer & updates see links).

Gharavi is currently a lecturer in Digital Media at the University of Newcastle. In 2001 she was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Residency in Buffalo NY, and she was in 2008 the recipient of the UK based Cultural Leadership Programme fellowship at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. In her spare time, she dreams of becoming a beekeeper in Iran.

Also see: www.tinagharavi.com and www.bridgeandtunnelproductions.com