Tina Gharavi

Gharavi has made films from unique perspectives on subjects as diverse as Muhammad Ali, teenage sexuality, Yemeni-British sailors, The Lackawanna 6, death row exonerees, refugees and lighthouses. Her first short, Closer, a 35mm film was an official selection at Sundance where programmer, Shari Frilot, noted 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. The resulting film, Mother/Country, was broadcast at prime time on Channel 4 in the UK where the national press gave it top billing. Further works such as The King of South Shields, deal with “the outsider” and her work often explores the issues of strategies of power and “who speaks for whom.”

Since leaving Iran in 1979 she has been a true nomad; carrying no less than 4 passports she currently resides in Northern England and Los Angeles where she is working on her follow-up feature, The Good Iranian, with the BFI and Film 4; a gangster tale set in France and Iran, a further feature documentary about tribalism and othering, Tribalism is Killing Us, as well as other commissions. She worked as Second Unit Director on the high-end drama, The Tunnel, the UK version of The Bridge and directed African Queens series for Nutopia (2022). As well as two original projects that she is writing, Tina is currently filming an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day for Piccadilly Pictures starring Hayley Bennett, Timothy Spall, Jack Whitehall and Jennifer Saunders.