Ali Zarnegar (fa: علی زرنگار) , an Irainian author, film director and poet, was born in 1983 in Tehran. He graduated in film directing from Tehran University of Art and has a Master degree in Drama too.
Zarnegar started his career in literature and Cinema simultaneously. From 2002 to 2015, he made seven short films. From among them ‘becoming’ won the Best Film and the Best Screen play awards in the 27th Tehran International Short Film Festival. His first film, “Life with the presence of a wall”, has never obtained a screening licence and was shut down only after seventeen days of filming.
In 2014, he was nominated for the Best Screen play award for ‘Wednesday, May 9’ in the 33rd Fajr International Film Festival. ‘Wednesday, May 9’ received many awards, including Jury Prize of Venice Film Festival, Special Jury Prize of Berkshire International Film Festival and Special Jury Prize of Bratislava International Film Festival.
Two years later, in 2016, he was nominated for the Best Screen play for ‘No Date, No signature’ in the 35th Fajr International Film Festival. The film also won the Cinema Cinema Academy award in Iran and the Best Screen play award in the 27th Stockholm International Film Festival. ‘No Date, No Signature’ has been accepted in more than 40 festivals and has won more than 10 international awards.
In 2018 Zarnegar was once more nominated for the Best Screen play in Fajr International Film Festival; this time for ‘Bone Marrow’.
In 2021 he wrote and directed his debut film. This independent film shows tragedy from a different perspective. It tells the story of seven passengers in the heart of a desert who have to make a collective decision based on personal situations.