Kiarash Anvari (1977, Iran) began his filmmaking career in Iran, completing his first short in 2001. The film went to be shown at the 48th Oberhausen International Short Film Festival in Germany and received praise and attention and was nominated for the best international short film award. In 2003, Anvari relocated to France, where he got his master’s degree in film studies from the University of Provence Aix-Marseille I. He was selected to participate the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2004, where he gained precious knowledge from some well-known names in the industry. He was also recommended by acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami to attend the Berlin Academy of Arts (Akademie der Künste) Young Artist Residency Program in the same year. In 2004 he participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus in Berlin and the Young Artist in Residency Programme of the Akademie der Künste. His films and video arts have been shown at a lot of different festivals, including Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen and the Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam. The Pot and the Oak (2017) is his first feature film. The film had its premiere in the Bright Future Competition section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the same year and was nominated for the Bright Future Award, FIPRESCI Prize, and Netpac Award. The film was also nominated for the FIPRESCI Prize of the Debuts section in Jerusalem Film Festival 2017. Anvari is the co- founder of the Montreal-based production company Sweet Delight Pictures and was nominated for the Emerging Producer Award by the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) in 2017. Anvari also produced and edited Ava, written and directed by Sadaf Foroughi, which had its premiere at TIFF 2017 and won the FIPRESCI Prize of the Discovery section and received honourable mention for the Best Canadian Debut Feature Film. Ava was named one of the top ten Canadian films of 2017 and was nominated for eight significant awards at the Canadian Screen Award 2018, including two nominations for Anvari for Best Achievement in Editing and Best Motion Picture.
