Elahe Esmaili

Elahe is an independent documentary filmmaker. Her film, The Doll(2021), is awarded as Best International Short at Hot Docs 2022 and nominated/selected for prestigious awards like International Documentary Association(IDA), Critics Choice Awards, Student Academy Awards, One World Media Award. Her film screened in tens of prestigious festivals such as Full Frame Documentary FF, Atlanta FF, Athens IFVF, Kerala IDSFFK and Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival. Born in 1990, Mashhad, Iran. MA of directing from National Film And Television School of UK; and a BA alumna from Tehran University of Art. In 2016 She ranked 1st among more than 150,000 participants in Iranian Art Konkur (national university entrance exam). Elahe concerns about children's and women's rights; Issues like child marriage, child abuse, neglect, or violence by parents, rape, women-against-women, and social inequalities. "I wish it was otherwise. Living in a patriarchal society for years has shaped my outlook as a filmmaker; inequalities due to being female, being a second-class citizen as well as the tough feeling of being a property of a man. These are the important issues that I'm going to criticize through my films to build a better future for the generations to come", from her statements about The Doll- her first film.