Alireza Davoudnejad

Born in 1953, Alireza Davoudnejad started his career in cinema as the co-writer of the screenplay for the movie “Thirst” by Iraj Ghaderi. Since his directorial debut in 1975, he has been active as director, screenwriter and producer, adding 17 feature films and 34 screenplays for feature films to his professional portfolio. Other than “The Need”, his 1999 film “Sweet Agony” has also won him many awards from different national and international festivals.

As a director, Davoudnejad puts great emphasis on building up the national cinema. According to him, national cinema is the kind of cinema which is inspired by the reality of its people’s lives, reflects the national aesthetics, taste and culture in action, and of course, is willingly sponsored by the people.” Diversity of works, bold approach to the subject matter, and free and open-minded structure of all films are among the distinct characteristics of this director and his body of work. In another words, Davoudnejad can be characterized as an unusual and unpredictable director in the Iranian cinema.