Arta Barzanji is an Iranian filmmaker, critic, curator, and lecturer based in London. He is an AHRC-funded PhD candidate at the University of Roehampton, where his practice-based research focuses on film criticism and dialectical thought. He is an alumnus of the critics’ programmes at the Locarno and Ghent Film Festivals, and his writing—in both Farsi and English—has appeared in outlets such as Cineaste, MUBI Notebook, Sabzian, and Documentary Magazine. Arta’s forthcoming academic publications include an essay for Routledge Resources Online and a book chapter for Edinburgh University Press.
As a curator, Arta has collaborated with London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), UCLA Film and Television Archive, and The Cinema Museum, programming seasons dedicated to Serge Daney, Cinema-ye Azad, and Amir Naderi. Arta’s filmmaking practice encompasses wordless avant-garde shorts and experimental-narrative hybrids, engaging with the work of filmmakers such as Stan Brakhage and Malcolm Le Grice, and exploring the relationship between the viewer and the screen. His current project is a feature-length documentary titled Unfinished: Kamran Shirdel.
