Mania Akbari
CV
MUSEUM AND GALLERY
2021 Matt’s Gallery, Lubion by Mania Akbari and Douglas White, London
2019 Solo Exhibition at VO Curations, Mr Majidi and the Electricity Box, London
2019 Curating “Body Politics” at Whitechapel Gallery – London
2019 Lubion Group Exhibition at Studio Gallery BWA, Wrocław – Poland
2019 10+4 Screening at Whitechapel Gallery – London
2018 Group Exhibition “FROM AFAR” at Malta Contemporary Art, Life May Be-Malta
2018 Nottingham Contemporary Gallery, “Enraciné2- Short film”
2018 Annely Juda Fine Art Gallery, “Enraciné2- Short film”
2016 Exhibition, Whitechapel Gallery, “In My Country Men Have Breasts” – London
2016 Screening at Centre de Cultura Contemporanea de Barcelona, “In My Country Men Have Breasts” – Spain
2015 Museum Centre Pompidou, “10+4”, Paris – France
2015 Ankara Museum Contemporary Art, Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival, “Life May Be”- Turkey
2013 Museum of Fine Art Boston, “One, Two, One” – USA, 2013 Museum of Fine Art Boston, “10+4” – USA
2009 Royal College of Art, “Video Arts Called Self and Sin” – London
2009 Exhibition in the Calendidonna Festival, “6 Video Arts” – Udine, Italy
2008 Xerex Gallery, “6 Video Arts” – London
2007 Tate Modern, “Video Art Called Self” – London
2006 Iranian Group Exhibition, “6 Video Arts” – Rome, Italy
2005 Exhibition, Locarno International Film Festival, “6 Video Arts” – Switzerland
2005 15th Video Brazil, “Video arts called Self, Sin” – Saopaolo – Brazil
2005 Exhibition, City of Women International Film Festival, “6 Video Arts” – Slovenia,
2005 Exhibition, Peru International Film Festival, “6 Video Arts” – Peru
2005 Exhibition, Salento International Film Festival, “6 Video Arts” – Italy
2005 Exhibition, High Falls International Film Festival, “6 Video Arts” – Rochester, NY, USA
2005 Exhibition, Gijon International Film Festival, “6 Video Arts” – Spain
2004 Exhibition, Kakhe Niyavaran, Niyavaran Place Gallery, “6 Video Arts” – Tehran, Iran
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
2019 Winner New: Vision Award, CPH: DOX, Copenhagen, Denmark
2019 Winner FIPRESCI International Critics Award, Flying Broom Festival, Ankara, Turkey
2019 SPECIAL MENTION, 17th International Festival Signs of the Night in Bangkok
2014 Nominated for Grand Prix, T-Mobile New Horizons Film Festival, Poland
2014 Nominated for Grand Prix, Fribourg International Film Festival, Switzerland
2014 Winner of The Don Quixote Award Fribourg International Film Festival, Switzerland
2014 Nominated for The Best Documentary, Edinburgh International Film Festival, UK
2013 Winner of German Independence Honorary Award, Oldenburg International Festival
2012 Nominated Grand Prix, Fribourg International Film Festival, Switzerland
2012 Nominated Best International Film, Edinburgh Film Festival, Edinburgh, UK
2008 Nominated New Talent Award, Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, Hong Kong, China
2008 Winner Best Film, L’Alternativa, Festival de Cinema Independent de Barcelona
2008 Spain Winner Best Actress, Festival de Cinema Independent de Barcelona, Spain
2008 Winner Special Honor Prize, Filmmor International Film Festival, Istanbul, Turkey
2007 Winner Best Film, International Film Festival of Kerala, Kerala, India
2007 Winner Best Director, International Film Festival of Kerala, Kerala
2007 India Winner Young Public Award, Nantes Three Continents Festival, France
2007 Nominated Golden Montgolfiere, Nantes Three Continents Festival, France
2005 Nominated New Talent Award, Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, Hong Kong, China
2005 Winner Most Innovative Film Award, Wine Country International Film Festival, USA
2005 Winner Best Director, Digital International Section, Barcelona Film Festival, Spain
2005 Winner Best Actress, Digital International Section, Barcelona Film Festival, Spain
2005 Winner Special Mention, Femina International Women’s Film Festival, Brazil
2004 Winner Grand Jury Prize Spirit of Freedom, Bahamas International Festival
2004 Winner Best Feature Film, Digital Section, Venice International Film Festival
Mania Akbari (b. Tehran, 1974) is an internationally acclaimed intersectional feminist artist and filmmaker who gained early recognition in the Iranian underground art scene, seeking freedom beyond censorship. During the digital cinema revolution in Iran, she transitioned from a painting career to the camera as a mode of storytelling. Akbari delves into the webs of body politics by documenting personal narratives through the female gaze as a form of empowerment, encouraging critical reflection on bodily oppression and suffering. Concerned with the socio-political traumatization of female-identifying bodies, Akbari transforms lived experience into an act of resistance by uncovering hidden historical and cultural memory and examines the transgenerational transmission of trauma. Weaving through the relationship between the camera and the body, Akbari identifies the body as a metaphor, as a political message with a revolutionary capacity against the patriarchal status quo. Led by a therapeutic approach, Akbari’s practice is often collaborative and participatory. Akbari works with other women to question the ways their bodies are positioned and valued in society and to explore the relational confluence of embodied memory and gendered violence. Drawing on accounts of sexual assault, abortion, pregnancy, illness, body image, gender, and sexuality through archival material and biopolitical fiction, her films generate dialogues between past and present, between trauma and reflexive healing. Akbari is committed to highlighting the invisible with a fierce defiance against heteronormative socialization. Her distinct filmmaking process reframes how we view personal and national histories and produces radical potentialities for women to regain control of their bodies through sharing, talking, and listening. Selected film awards include Feature Film (Digital Section), Venice international Film Festival (2004) for 20 Fingers (2004); New: Vision Award (2019) at CPH: DOX, Copenhagen, Denmark and FIPRESCI International Critics Award (2019), Flying Broom Festival, Ankara, Turkey for A Moon For My Father (2019)