Rouzbeh Rashidi

Rouzbeh Rashidi (born in Tehran, 1980) is an Iranian-Irish filmmaker. He has been making films since 2000, at which time he founded the Experimental Film Society in Tehran. He has always worked completely away from mainstream conceptions of filmmaking, striving to escape the stereotypes of conventional storytelling. Instead, he roots his cinematic style in a poetic interaction of image and sound. He generally eschews scriptwriting, seeing the process of making moving images as exploration rather than illustration. His work is deeply engaged with film history. His films are inspired by, and constructed around, images, locations, and characters and their immediate situations. The stylistic elements that make up his distinctively personal film language include the use of natural light and single light sources, professional and non-professional actors, slow-paced rhythms, abstract plots, static shots, and minimal dialogue. He employs a wide range of different formats and devices to make his films, including video (digital and analogue) especially DSLR cameras (achieving complex visual effects through an elaborate mixture of filters, lenses, and in-camera color grading), Super 8mm, portable lightweight personal cameras (such as GoPro, webcam, and mobile phone). His consistently low-budget work is entirely self-funded and made with complete creative freedom.