BEHIND THE LENS
Shirin Barghnavard is an award-winning documentary film director and editor based in Perth, Australia. She is currently a PhD candidate at the School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University.
In her documentary films, Shirin explores social issues, particularly focusing on the role of women and the effects of politics and war on society. Her notable works include Density of Emptiness (2023, artistic consultant: Wim Wenders), Invisible (2019), Poets of Life (2017), Scenes from a Divorce (2015), Profession: Documentarist (2014), and 21 Days and Me (2012).
Shirin’s films have been showcased at international film festivals such as CPH:DOX (Copenhagen), IDFA (Amsterdam), DMZ (Korea), One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival (Czech Republic), Valladolid (Spain), Jihlava (Czech Republic), and the Zurich Film Festival. She has received several awards, including the Tim Hetherington Award from the Sheffield Doc/Fest (UK), Special Mention Award from Asiatica Film Mediale (Rome), and the Special Jury Award from the Green Film Festival (Seoul, Korea).
Still from Vechte's Tale, directed by M. Reza Jahanpanah
Other Works
In addition to her own works, Shirin has edited numerous documentary films, including Hey Humans (2017) and Touran Khanom (2018) directed by renowned Iranian filmmaker Rakhshan Bani Etemad, as well as Firoozeh Khosrovani's award-winning film Fest of Duty (2014). From 2015 to 2018, she worked as an editor in a renowned Tehran-based production company, Kara Film Studio, known for producing independent documentary films.
She has been awarded residency fellowships by the Cité internationale des arts (2023, Paris), Harun Farocki Institute (2017, Berlin), The Akademie Schloss Solitude (2018 & 2021, Stuttgart), The Fondation Jan Michalski (2019, Montricher) and The Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen (2021, Schöppingen).
She has conducted documentary film workshops and master classes both within and outside Iran, including at the Paris Cergy National Graduate School of Art (ENSAPC), the University of Sydney, Babelsberg Konrad Wolf Film University, Merz Akademie (Stuttgart University of Design, Art and Media), and Zurich University of the Arts.
In 2021, Shirin was a jury member for the ‘Change of View’ Film Award at Filmfest Hamburg.
Currently, she is working at DADAA in Walyalup (Fremantle) on a contract basis, coordinating the ‘In Frame’ short film initiative.