Amina Maher

Amina Maher (Persian: امین ماهر, born as Amin Maher in 1992 in Tehran, Iran) is a queer feminist artist, activist, and filmmaker, whose works train her unblinking gaze on the breakdown of family structure, shame culture, and patriarchal myths. Her creative works criticize traditions, media, culture, and norms. Her cinematic activity began as the main actor in Abbas Kiarostami and Mania Akbari´s Ten (2002) nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival. She was unknowingly filmed in the passenger seat of her mother´s car. Since then, she acted, edited, and has been in films that have been part of festivals such as Cannes Film Festival, British Film Institute, San Sebastián International Film Festival and International Film Festival Rotterdam. Her directorial short films have been internationally well received with +200 festival participations and +50 Awards from festivals such as Ann Arbor Film Festival, TLVFest, Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, Expresión en Corto International Film Festival and Shorts México, among many others.

Her three Short films, Letter to My Mother, Out of Frame and Where Is the Friend´s Home? have been part of the Internationales Frauen* Film Fest Dortmund+Köln and Museum Ostwall in 2022.

Her creative work explores childhood memories, mental health, and self-realization with a mission to amplify trans and queer storylines. Her first directorial debüt feature has been part of Berlin International Film Festival - Dok Station Lab, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival - CPH:DOX Forum, and FID Lab Marseille Festival of Documentary Film. The daughter of a war veteran started writing poems and short stories at a very early age. Her creative work is rooted in exploring interpersonal relationships, childhood memories, mental health, and self-realization with a mission to amplify trans and queer storylines. Amina Maher began her cinematic activity as the main actor in Abbas Kiarostami and Mania Akbari's Ten, which recorded ten-year-old Amina sitting in the passenger seat of her mother's car without her knowledge. Maher left her family at the age of fifteen and began to live on her own.Between 2006 and 2012, Maher continued her cinematic activity as an actor, assistant director, and editor to her mother, Mania Akbari, on several films, such as "10+4" which premiered at Cannes Acid Section and San Sebastián International Film Festival in 2006, as well as "From Tehran to London", premiered in 2013 at International Film Festival Rotterdam. In 2007, she started filming her friends both at school and later at university. She was arrested two days after 2009 Iranian presidential election and had been subjected to serious beatings. The reasons for her arrest were her support to Iranian Green Movement and that she had been identified as an active participant during the presidential campaign.In 2010 she began her study at University of Tehran. Three months later, she was arrested for the second time due to her political activities and for attending the Student Day demonstration against the dictatorship. This time she spent a week in the notorious Evin prison. Maher subsequently left Iran to Dubai and then to Malaysia.

In 2016, she received her bachelor's degree in filmmaking from Limkokwing University in Malaysia. Her first student short film was Cold Wine (2012 Fiction), followed by Orange and One Window Will Suffice.

Her multi-awarded short film, Letter to My Mother, was well received internationally with +200 festival selections and +50 Awards. For four years in a row, the film has been constantly programmed among numerous arthouse-oriented film festivals. It has been part of Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival forum as well as the competitions at numerous Int. film festivals such as 36th Kasseler Dokfest, 38th Feminale - The International Dortmund | Cologne Women's Film Festival, 15th Shorts México and 26th Chéries-Chéris (Festival du Film Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans & ++++ de Paris). The film is about her own experiences of childhood sexual abuse.

Among numerous reviews, the film was described as avant-garde, poignant and moving, a means for survival, a way to stand up and to understand – a fearless and strong examination that touches upon the center of the pain and dares to look precisely. َHer film navigates the vast yet fragile space between self-exploration and family politics within a sociocultural frame.Letter to My Mother received more than 50 International Awards, such as the Audience Award and the Special Jury Prize at 23rd Indie Memphis Film Festival, USA and Special Jury price at 15th Shorts México and Beirut International Women Film Festival.

Due to directing controversial films, Maher fled to Germany in 2018. After moving to Berlin in 2019, she started her MA study in Film Directing at Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg.

Maher is also a genderqueer feminist activist. Her activism is about body politics & transgender rights concerning the experiences of marginalization, sexual abuse, sexuality, dictatorship, and oppressive systems, decolonizing the body and gender. She encourages herself and her environment to embrace vulnerability and reclaim bodies, care, and pleasure.