Sadaf Foroughi
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Award-winning Iranian-Canadian filmmaker Sadaf Foroughi began her career in 2003, writing/directing short films and documentaries, and creating video art pieces, exhibited and screened at various film festivals and cultural venues worldwide, such as Berlinale.
As an alumnus of the Berlinale Talent Campus, class of 2005, she was selected to direct a short documentary episode of the "Why Democracy?" project, sponsored by Steps International, with the participation of the ZDF/Arte in Germany. The project stimulates a global discussion on democracy. Sadaf's episode for this project, Féminin, Masculin, was nominated for Best Non-European Film at the Grand Off-European Off Film Awards in Warsaw and won Best Short Film at the annual Oxford Brooks University Film and Music Festival.
In 2017, she co-wrote Kiarash Anvari's feature debut, The Pot and the Oak, which premiered in the Bright Future Competition section of the 2017 Rotterdam International Film Festival.
Sadaf's debut feature as a writer/director, AVA, premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, won the FIPRESCI award in the Discovery section, and received an honorable mention as Best Canadian First Feature. AVA was named one of TIFF's Top Ten Canadian Films of 2017 and nominated in nine categories at the 2018 Canadian Screen Awards, winning the John Dunning Award for Best First Feature. AVA also earned Sadaf a nomination for Best Youth Feature at the 2018 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Her second feature film, Summer With Hope, won the Crystal Globe Grand Prix for Best Film at the 2022 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Summer With Hope has since been screened and nominated for further awards at other film festivals such as The Hamptons International Film Festival, Haifa, Singapore, BFI London International Film Festivals, and TIFF Next Wave, and was nominated for the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards in three categories: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actor in a Supporting role.
Sadaf has also served as a juror for various festivals and awards, including the 2019 Canadian Screen Awards and the 2022 Tbilisi International Film Festival in Georgia.
She holds a master's degree in film studies from the University of Provence in France and a degree in film production from the New York Film Academy, pursuing a doctorate in film philosophy.