Tara Aghdashloo

Tara Aghdashloo (born 5 January 1988) is an Iranian-born writer, director, producer and curator. She is a published author of her poetry collection, and has worked as a print and broadcast journalist in Persian and English-language media, before transitioning to films.

Tara is an intersectional feminist has been an advocate for women's rights issues, and has attended panels on issues relating to Iran and the Middle East, as well as discussions on women and diversity in filmmaking.

Biography
Tara Aghdashloo was born 5 January 1988 in Tehran, to architect Firouzeh "Fay" Athari and painter Aydin Aghdashloo. When she was in high school her family moved to Toronto, Canada.

Tara completed her BA of journalism at Ryerson University with a focus on print journalism and political science, and her MA from London University's School of Oriental and African Studies in Global Media and Postnational Communication. 

Film and television
As a journalist, director, producer, Tara has worked with Channel 4 News, and BBC World. She wrote, directed and produced Value of Contemporary Art, Riksdag, Ticket documentary-series, and the seven-part docuseries City Map, among others. She was a founding co-host and producer on the first Persian-speaking all-woman talk show, Samte No on Manoto TV channel. Starting in 2017 she independently produced and directed on her debut feature documentary, Chiaroscuro: Capturing my Father. In 2019, she directed the music video 'Circles' for Choubi by Yasmine Hamdan and commercials as well.

Tara's foray into narrative filmmaking started with her participation at Mohsen Makhmalbaf's filmmaking workshop in 2020. Since then, she wrote and directed her first narrative short The Ride which premiered at the Oscar Qualifying Cinequest Film Festival in California in March 2023. The film was funded by BFI Network, Canada Council of the Arts, and Toronto Arts Council. The Ride has been submited to compete in numerous international festivals around the world. Her second narrative short film Bridge, was commissioned by BBC based on a spoken-word poem by Gemma Barnett, directed by Tara Aghdashloo with script by Gemma Barnett and Tara Aghdashloo. It premiered at BIFA and BAFTA Qualifying Norwich Film Festival in 2023. It premiered at BIFA and BAFTA Qualifying Norwich Film Festival in 2023. Her third narrative short, Empty Your Pockets was shot in 2023 and produced by OPC Productions and Intermission Films.

Writing
Her poetry has appeared in English language and Persian magazines, and her poetry collection, This is Not a Pomegranate, was published by Shahrvand Publications in 2011. Her essays, articles and reviews have been published in The Guardian, REALLIFE Magazine, The New Inquiry, Tank Magazine, Autodidact Magazine, Ibraaz, Fashion Magazine, ArtRabbit, Ottawa Citizen, Future Fossil Flora Magazine, Reorient Magazine, BULLETT and Capsule 98 among others. Tara wrote the lyrics for King Raam's debut solo album, Songs of The Wolves.

In October, 2022, Tara's Op-Ed on the protests that erupted in Iran, was published in The Financial Times. In December 2022, she published another piece about the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran and its impact on society. In February, 2023, Harvard Business Review's Ascend series published a piece by Tara, discussing activism from the diaspora.

Curation
Tara co-directed and curated The Invisible Line (TIL) Gallery in East London for two years and exhibited around 25 shows during that time. In 2017 she curated a retrospective of Portuguese artist Cristina Rodrigues in Castelo Branco Museum. She frequently reviews art especially by Iranian and Middle Eastern artists.