Afsaneh Salari

Afsaneh Salari, born 1988, in Tehran, is an Iranian documentary filmmaker, producer, and editor who has made a name for herself internationally with sensitive portraits and socially relevant topics. Her best-known film is THE SILHOUETTES (2020, directed by Afsaneh Salari). The documentary tells the story of an Afghan refugee in Iran who is torn between family ties and the desire for a new identity. The film celebrated its world premiere at the Visions du Réel festival, where it received a Jury Special Mention, and was awarded the Next Award at the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival 2021, among others. Salari also won an award for this work at the Iranian Film Festival Zurich, and the film was nominated for Best Documentary at the 39th Fajr Film Festival. Salari has also made several short films, including No Man's Land (2016), Conversion: A Guide to Skin Allergy Treatment (2015), and Madame Servante (2011). As a producer, she worked on THE SILHOUETTES as well as The Forbidden Strings (2019), which premiered at the IDFA Festival. She has also worked as an editor on projects such as Writing Hawa (2024) and An Owl, a Garden & the Writer (2023). Afsaneh Salari is co-founder of the Docmaniacs Film Collective in Tehran and heads Docmaniacs Productions in Paris. She studied film editing at the Tehran University of Art, followed by creative directing and cinematography at Paris 8 University and documentary directing in the DocNomads program. She is also an alumna of La Fémis, Berlinale Talents, and the IDFA Academy. Her work has been supported by institutions such as the Sundance Institute, the Doha Film Institute, the IDFA Bertha Fund, and the Asian Cinema Fund.