Born in Tehran, Gharavi is a BAFTA and Sundance-nominated writer/director/artist, focused on delivering authentic stories lensed with an impeccably wrought perspective. She initially trained as a painter in the US later studying cinema in France. Having worked in war zones and in guerrilla filmmaking, Gharavi marries her indomitable spirit with a distinct talent to deliver performances and manage beautifully observed stories. Her critically acclaimed debut, I Am Nasrine, was nominated for a BAFTA.

Gharavi has made films from unique perspectives on subjects as diverse as Muhammad Ali, teenage sexuality, Yemeni-British sailors, The Lackawanna 6, death row exonerees, refugees and lighthouses. Her first short, Closer, a 35mm film was an official selection at Sundance where programmer, Shari Frilot, noted that ‘it takes documentary to the next level.’ Gharavi’s next major production chronicled her return to her mother’s house in Iran, 23 years after the Islamic Revolution. The resulting film, Mother/Country, was broadcast at prime time on Channel 4 in the UK where the national press gave it top billing. Further works such as The King of South Shields and People Like Us deal with “the outsider” and her work often explores the issues of strategies of power and “who speaks for whom.”

Her debut feature, I Am Nasrine, a coming-of-age story of two teenage Iranian refugees, was nominated for a BAFTA in 2013. The film received 4 stars from Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian calling it, “A valuable debut, shot with a fluent kind of poetry” while Deborah Ross in the Spectator described it as “affectionate, humane, tender and, ultimately, optimistic.” She has recently completed principle photography on her second feature, A Beirut Love Story. Her next documentary, Tribalism is Killing Us resulted from visiting Angola State Prison, a film about difference and othering is due out in 2022 and she’s a showrunner, engaged in development on her first TV series, Refurinn/The Fox, an Icelandic detective noir with an intriguing twist. Her most recent project is directing a Netflix hybrid drama-doc series, African Queens: The Life of Cleopatra, for Nutopia and Westbrook, exec produced by Jada Pickett-Smith.

Gharavi is also an academic, teaching filmmaking around the world, and was awarded an MIT Fellowship. She was elected to the BAFTA Academy in 2017, is represented by Independent Talent in the UK and Gersh in Los Angeles, her two home bases.

In her spare time, Tina dreams of becoming a beekeeper in Iran.