Sahraa Karimi

Sahraa Karimi (born 1985) is an Afghan film director and the first female chairperson of the Afghan Film Organisation (Afghan Film). She is the first and the only woman in Afghanistan who has a PhD in cinema and filmmaking.

Karimi was born and raised in Tehran, educated in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, and came back to Afghanistan in 2012 where she lives and works. She received her PhD degree in the field of Cinema (Fiction Film Directing & Screenwriting) from the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Bratislava, Film and Television Faculty. Light Breeze, a documentary she made during her time in the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, went on to win a Sun in a Net Awards (highest film awards in Slovakia) for Best Short Fiction Film.

On returning to Afghanistan she helped open Kapila Multimedia House, to promote independent Afghan filmmakers. In 2019 she became the first female chairperson of the government Afghan Film since its beginning in 1968. She was the only woman to apply for the job, and was competing against four others, all of whom were men.

Her first professional work was a documentary, Searching for Dream, which was exhibited at the Dhaka International Film Festival in 2006. Her other notable works include Afghan Women behind the Wheel which won around 20 awards at major film festivals, including Academy awards in Slovakia and best documentary film at the 13th Dhaka International Film Festival. In 2019, she directed the film Hava, Maryam, Ayesha, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Orizzonti/ Horizon Prize (Award for Best Film).

• Hava, Maryam, Ayesha (2019)
• Parlika (2016)
• Afghan Women Behind the Wheel (2009)