Alireza Ghanie

Iranian-born Austrian filmmaker, painter and photographer Alireza Ghanie was born in 1959 in Tehran, Alireza Ghanie moved to Austria when he was 14 years old. He received his masters degree in 1982 from the University of Music and Dramatic Art, "Mozarteum" in Salzburg. He worked extensively in theatre and opera and also as a freelance painter and photographer. He graduated in Computer Science - Multi-Media in 1994.

Ghanie made a number of short films and wrote several screenplays. As a result, his work often features an East-West Diwan. His first film Hand in Hand won The European Tolerance Award from the European Parliament in Strasbourg in 1994. He is constantly inspired by Rumi, Hafez and Omar Khayyam poetry. His first feature film, Windspiel – The Wind Game, shot in Austria and Iran, starred the great Austrian poet H. C. Artmann in 2002 and was participated in a number of international film festivals and was awarded by Omid Film Festival.

His award-winning film Lesson from Bam, (Grand Prix Award - Chicago Int. Film Festival 2005) screened world-wide. His film Imaginary Border was nominated for the best Documentary feature film at the APSA (Asian Pacific Screen Award- in Australia-Brisbane).

He often works on both experimental short and feature documentary films with photographic series together and other subjects for his camera include South India and Pecs in Hungary. His works have screened at many international festivals and his photographs and Paintings are in a number of European, American and Australian collections. He lives and works as a freelance artist and lecture in Salzburg, Austria.

Filmography

IMAGINARY BORDER » Conflicts resulting from the meeting of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with European settlers more than 200 years ago are still visible today...