AMINA MAHER
Filmmaker/Artist

I am a trans queer woman filmmaker and artist from Iran residing in Berlin. I have a BA in Filmmaking from Limkokwing University in Malaysia and MA in Film Directing from Babeslberg Film University in Germany.  My first debut directorial feature film has been part of Berlinale Dok Station Lab 2023 and I have been part of Berlinale Talents 2023. 

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My relationship with filmmaking runs throughout my life. My cinematic activity began as the main protagonist in Abbas Kiarostami's Ten (2002), which recorded me without my knowledge as a ten years old child, sitting in the passenger seat of my actual mother's car. My mother, Mania Akbari is also an Iranian filmmaker living in London since 2012. 

 

I direct, write and edit fiction, documentary, and hybrid films as well as commercials. My short films were internationally well received with +200 Selections and +50 Awards from festivals such as 61st Ann Arbor Int. F. F, CPH:DOX Forum, and Kassel Documentary Int. F. F among many others. Since 2019, I received international recognition in queer film festivals. My Trilogy, Three Short Films, has been part of the International Women's Film Festival Dortmund - Köln as well as several other museums and galleries such as Museum Ostwall Dortmund and NGBK Berlin.

 

Since 2019 my transgender and queer activities became boldly visible on a larger scale, appearing in mainstream media and TV to deconstruct it for real and criticize it in my films and open doors for transgender and queer people. Since 2019 I am working on my first debüt directorial film, I Look Like My Mother which partly is also about my own queer life and transitioning process.