ABOUT

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Pooya Badkoobeh was born into a theatrical Tehran family in 1983. His father was a well-known children’s TV director and producer, so Pooya spent much of his childhood on set. He graduated in graphics from the Tehran School of Art in 2000 and then graduated in theatrical studies from the Azad University of Dramatic Art in 2005.
Pooya’s interest in cinema led him to pursue a master’s degree in cinema at the York University of Canada.

Since 2003 he’s been working in TV advertising, making both commercial and cultural spots. Parallel to this, Pooya has also made 2 short films, both of which have won national and international awards. Dressage is his first feature film. Successful film “Dressage” has participated in 18 international film festivals and won several awards, including Generation section of the Berlin Film Festival 2018.

Experience

2003 - Present

Director of TV ads – Badkoobeh | Creative Communication Solutions.

2005 - 2015

Creative Director – Badkoobeh | Creative Communication Solutions.

2012 - 2019

Founder- Toranj Production Studio

2012- Present

Member Board Of Director

2015 - 2017

Chief Creative Officer – Badkoobeh | Creative Communication Solutions.

Education

2019 - 2021

York University, Toronto

Master of Arts (MA)- Film/Cinema Studies

2000 - 2004

Azad University (AIU) -Tehran/Arak

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BAs)- Theater Studies

1997- 2000

Art School- Tehran

Diploma- Art & Graphic Design

Knowledge

Film Making
Advertising
Theater Direction
Art Direction
Acting
Creative Management
Video Production
Brand Development
Creative Documentary Directing
Communication Strategy
Script Writing
Creative Directing

Testimonials

Deborah Young

American writer and journalist - HollywoodReporter

Clear-cut, allegorical and unsettling, Dressage might be viewed as an updated Crime and Punishment in which a 16-year-old girl commits a crime, gets away with it, but then finds she’s lost her moral bearings in the self-centered, materialistic world of her parents and friends. This first feature by Pooya Badkoobeh, who has made a career directing TV commercials, plunges deeply into the muddled, exasperating world of teenagers and never loses faith in its rebellious heroine, even when she goes off the rails and the audience’s favor wavers. It won a well-deserved special mention in Berlin’s Generation 14plus sidebar, but the moral quandary of this DreamLab release has adult appeal, too.

Alissa Simon

Variety Journalist

An ethical tale for a new era, the youth drama “Dressage” powerfully illustrates the consequences of growing social divisions within contemporary Iranian society and indicts a middle and upper class that have lost their moral center. Helmer Pooya Badkoobeh’s debut feature centers on an alienated teen, from a family of modest means, who breaks with her group of wealthier, amoral peers after they all commit a thrill-seeking crime. Bolstered by a special mention in the Generations 14plus section of the 2018 Berlinale, further fest play is a given for this provocative look at power, money, hypocrisy, and the gap between generations.

Clients

LG

Nestle

UNICEF

Beko

cif

Domestos

OMO

Unilever

Vision

I like reciting poetry with cinema, When people leave the cinema after seeing this poem, they leave the streets of the city with hope. Because the world is a better place to live only with hopeful people, but not the hope that promises the moon, the hope that it is fertilized by the search for truth in them.