Resume
born and raised in Iran (Shiraz), 1987
lives and works in London
Maryam Tafakory works with film and performance. She was the 2024 winner of the Film London Jarman Award.
Her film, Mast-del, premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and was among Film Comment’s Best Short Films of 2023 and Sight&Sound’s Best Films of 2023. Her first UK solo exhibition, I Want To Tell You What I Can’t, was one of Artforum’s Critics’ Picks of 2023. LUX London distributes her work.
Education
[2017-2020] PhD in Fine Art [full scholarship, straight pass], Kingston University
[2015-2017] MFA [with distinction], Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University
Solo Screening/Exhibition (selected)
[2025] Harvard Film Archive
[2025] 47th Cinéma du réel, Paris [link]
[2025] Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland
[2024] MoMA, New York [link]
[2024] Academy Museum, Los Angeles [link]
[2024] BOZAR, Brussels
[2024] Batalha Centro de Cinema
[2024] State of Concept Athens
[2024] Images Festival, Toronto
[2023] National Gallery of Art, Washington
[2023] MoMI, New York
[2023] LUX, London
[2023] 42nd IKSV, Istanbul
[2023] e-flux, New York
[2023] Doc’s Kingdom Seminar
[2023] Nadežda Petrović Gallery
[2023] Jester, Genk
[2023] Courtisane, Ghent
[2023] BMFA, Berwick Upon Tweed
[2023] Filmoteca de Catalunya la Inesperada, Barcelona
[2022] e-flux, New York
[2022] Open City Doc Festival, London
[2022] 41st Uppsala Short Film Festival
[2022] Spectacle Theatre, New York
[2022] Points North Institute, CIFF, Maine
[2022] DokuFest, Kosovo
[2018] BEURSSCHOUWBURG, Belgium
Selected Awards / Nominations
[2024] Won the Film London Jarman Award, UK
[2024] Won the Aesthetica Art Prize
[2024] Won the Cinema & Gioventù Award for Best International Film at the 77th Locarno Film Festival
[2024] Won the Best International Short & medium-length Award at the 27th RIDM, Montreal
[2023] Won two Best Experimental Short Film - 70th & 71st Melbourne Int’l Film Festival, MIFF
[2023] Nominated for the Queer Palm at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight
[2023] Nominated for the Œil d’Or at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight
[2023] Won the Jury Prize for The Best Short Film - 43rd Amiens International Film Festival
[2022] Won the Oscar-qualifying Gold Hugo for Best Documentary - 58th Chicago Int’l Festival
[2022] Won the Ammodo Tiger Short - 51st International Film Festival Rotterdam, IFFR
[2022] Won the Barbara Hammer Feminist Film Award - 60th Ann Arbor Film Festival, AAFF
[2022] Won the Best Int’l Short Film - 29th l’Alternativa Cinema Independent de Barcelona
[2022] Won the Best Visual Concept - 12th Bucharest Int’l Experimental Film Festival
[2022] Won two Best Short Film - 15th and 16th Archivio Aperto, Bologna, Italy
[2022] Won the runner-up Prize for the Best UK Short Film - London Short Film Festival, LSFF
[2019] Won the Aesthetica Emerging Art Prize, UK
[2019] Won the Flaherty/Colgate Distinguished Global Filmmaker in Residence, New York
[2018] Won the Fugas Jury Award at Documenta Madrid
[2017] Won the Aesthetica Emerging Art Prize, UK
Selected Group Exhibition
[2024] Nottingham Contemporary, UK
[2023] P O R T I K U S, Frankfurt [link]
[2023] Villa Medici: The French Academy in Rome
[2023] Tromsø Kunstforening
[2023] The Hepworth Wakefield, UK
[2022] Haus der Kulturen der Welt [HKW]
[2022] LCCA the Latvian Center for Contemporary Art [Survival Kit]
[2021] Project Arts Centre, Dublin
[2021] M HKA, Antwerp
[2021] Pergamon Museum, Berlin
[2019] Anthology Film Archive, New York
[2019] VIDEONALE.17, Kunstmuseum Bonn
[2019] Whitechapel Gallery, London
[2019] Parasol unit Foundation for Contemporary art, London
Selected Group Screening
[2025] Tate Britain, London
[2024] Tate Modern, London
[2024] 62nd New York Film Festival, NYFF
[2024] 77th Locarno Film Festival, Pardi di Domani [link]
[2024] BFI London Film Festival
[2023] Cannes Directors’ Fortnight [link]
[2023] 61st New York Film Festival, NYFF
[2023] 48th Toronto Film Festival, Wavelengths, TIFF
[2023] 42nd Vancouver Int’l FF
[2023] Locarno Film Festival
[2023] 68th Cork International Film Festival
[2023] International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam [IDFA]
[2023] M+ Cinema, M Plus Museum, Hong Kong
[2023] Black Canvas FCC, New Horizon Competition
[2023] FICUNAM International Festival
[2023] DMZ International Documentary Film Festival [DMZ Docs]
[2023] 50th Film Fest Ghent
[2023] Oberhausen International Short Film Festival
[2022] True/False Film Festival
[2022] MoMA Doc Fortnight New York
[2022] Rotterdam Int’l Film Festival [IFFR 2016/2018/2022]
[2022] RIDM - Montreal International Documentary Festival [2022/2023]
[2022] 38th Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg
[2022] Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin
[2022] Frames of Representation, ICA London
[2022] 29th Encounters Film Festival, UK [2023/2023]
[2022] Nominated for Experimental Award - 30th Curtas Vila do Conde IFF
[2022] 39th Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival [2022/2023]
[2021] Special Jury Mention at IFF Message to Man
[2021] Essay Film Festival, Birkbeck London
[2021] 31st Singapore International Film Festival [SGIFF]
[2020] 58th Ann Arbor Film Festival, Michigan
[2019] Special Jury Mention at Open City Documentary Festival, London
[2019] Special Jury Mention at 47th Athens International Film and Video Festival
[2019] Nominated for Int. Award at 22nd Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Switzerland
[2019] 60th Bilbao International Documentary and Short Film Festival [ZINEBI]
[2019] 38th Uppsala International Short Film Festival
[2019] 35th Busan International Short Film Festival
[2019] 17th Doclisboa Documentary Film Festival
[2019] UnionDocs, Centre for Documentary Art, NY
[2019] B3 Biennial of the Moving Image
[2018] Nominated for Found Footage Award at 47th IFFR
[2018] Nominated for Tiger Short Award at 47th IFFR
[2018] Nominated for Experimental Award at 67th Melbourne International Film Festival
[2018] Duke University, Rubenstein Art Center, Durham
[2018] Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University
[2018] Light Industry, New York
[2015] Zurich Film Festival, Zürich
Reviews
[2024] by Gelare Khoshgozaran [ArtReview]
[2024] by Nasrin Himada [Film London]
[2024] by Övül Ö. Durmuşoğlu [MOUSSE Magazine]
[2024] by Dylan Huw [ARTFORUM]
[2024] by Mike Hoolboom [Found Footage Magazine]
[2024] by Mariacristina Lattarulo [Artribune]
[2023] by Mahan Moalemi [NonFiction]
[2023] by Elhum Shakerifar [LUX London]
[2023] by Maria Paradinas [Ultra Dogme]
[2023] by Kevin B. Lee [FilmExplorer]
[2023] by Erika Lay [MIFF Critics Reviews]
[2022] by Namrata Joshi [National Herald]
[2022] by Ben Nicholson [Film Verdict]
[2022] by Elhum Shakerifar [FVU London]
Interviews
[2025] by Cici Peng [Frieze Magazine]
[2024] By Saeed Kamali Dehghan [Guardian]
Mentions
by Dan Schindel [Hyperallergic]
by Leo Goldsmith [Film Comment]
by Inney Prakash[Film Comment]
by Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer[Screen Slate]
by Catherine Grant [Criterion Daily]
by Addie Morfoot [Variety]
by Lukas Brasiskis [Art Agenda]
by Ariel Avissar [Sight & Sound - BFI]
by Adrian Martin [Sight & Sound - BFI]
by Courtney Stephens [Filmmaker Magazine]
by Leo Goldsmith [Senses of Cinema]
by Julian Ross [Lo schermo dell’arte]
by James Prestridge [Close Up Culture]
by Dagmara Genda [Berlin Art Link]
Selected Fellowships / Residencies
[2024] Kulturhaus Villa Sträuli Residency, Switzerland
[2023] MacDowell Fellowship [link]
[2023] Casa Conti Residency, Corsica
[2023] Production Grant VISIO, Lo schermo dell’arte
[2023] Jury Grand Prix - 25 FPS Festival Zagreb
[2023] Awarded The Best Short Film - BLACK CANVAS FCC
[2023] COSMOS AWARD for Best Film - Curtocircuíto IFF
[2023] Prix du Jury Experimental - 41st edition of the Festival Tous Courts of Aix-en-Provence
[2023] Residency at Nadežda Petrović Gallery, Čačak
[2021] Digital fellowship, New Contemporaries, London
[2022] Awarded the Sonja Savić Prize & Residency - Alternative Film/Video Festival, Belgrade
[2021] Beyond Fellowship by Film and Video Umbrella London