Ramin Bahrani

Ramin Bahrani (; born March 20, 1975) is an Iranian-American director and screenwriter. Film critic Roger Ebert ranked Bahrani's Chop Shop (2007) as the sixth-best film of the 2000s, calling him "the new director of the decade". Bahrani was the recipient of the 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship. Bahrani is a professor of film directing at his alma mater, the Columbia University School of the Arts. In 2021, Bahrani was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for The White Tiger. He is a BAFTA and Emmy Award nominee. Early life and education Bahrani was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the son of Iranian immigrants. His father, originally from Shiraz, initially exposed him to the poetic works of Hafez and encouraged him to pursue his passion for the arts. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1996. Bahrani also studied filmmaking in Iran and briefly lived in Paris after graduating from college. Career Bahrani's first feature film, Man Push Cart (2005), premiered at the Venice Film Festival and screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006. The film won over ten international prizes, was released worldwide, and was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards.