
Directing
Babak Jalali
Born
1978-09-01 (48)
Place of birth
Gorgan, Iran
Known for
Directing
Credits
19 titles
Babak Jalali (Persian: بابک جلالی; 1 September, 1978; Gorgan) is an Iranian–British-American film director and producer, notably directing Radio Dreams, for which he won the Hivos Tiger Award at the 45th International Film Festival Rotterdam. Jalali was born in Gorgan, Iran, and grew up in London, where he attended the London Film School. In 2006, Jalali was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film for his short "Heydar, an Afghan in Tehran." Jalali's first feature film, the 2010 Frontier Blues, was developed with support from the Cannes Cinéfondation. Frontier Blues premiered in Locarno Festival Competition and also screened in the 2010 "New Directors" series at the Museum of Mode…
Known for
NRLeila is the devoted housekeeper of Madame Isabelle, who lives in a luxurious estate in the Palmeraie of Marrakech. Leila maintains the careful order of this timeless bubble, where everyone plays their role to perfection. Between her and Yusef, the head gardener, a tacit, quiet, and restrained friendship has formed. When Leila’s sister arrives unexpectedly, revealing a heavy secret from their past, the tranquillity of this microcosm begins to crack.
The Roses of Marrakesh
2026
6.3Donya, a lonely Afghan refugee and former translator, spends her twenties drifting through a meager existence in Fremont, California. Shuttling between her job writing fortunes for a fortune cookie factory and sessions with her eccentric therapist, Donya suffers from insomnia and survivor's guilt over those still left behind in Kabul as she desperately searches for love.
Fremont
2023
NRPalestinian-Syrian teenager Nasser and his older brother Yassin have been living in a Greek refugee camp, awaiting a decision on their asylum application. They pass the time recording comedy sketches, fantasizing of making zombie films and moving to Sweden. Nasser, however, feels increasingly trapped in this no-man’s-land. With nowhere to escape, Boiling tensions in the camp push Nasser to another world.
Xoftex
2025
6.4A brilliant and misunderstood Iranian writer struggles to pursue his ambitious goal of bringing together Metallica and Kabul Dreams, Afghanistan's first rock band.
Radio Dreams
2017
5.8Ever since he was a child, the seventeen-years-old Edoardo has suffered from a malformation of the foreskin that stops him from masturbating and makes him insecure and ill at ease with girls. Shut up in his sexless microcosm, Edoardo reacts with irritation to the pressures of the outside world, which do nothing but exacerbate his insecurity. Forced against his will to emerge from the shadows in which he has hidden for years, Edoardo will initially try to solve his problem by clumsy stratagems before finding, at last, the courage to face his own fears.
Short Skin
2015
7.0On Iran's northern frontier with Turkmenistan, the land of "heartbreak and tractors", director Babak Jalali mines absurdist humour and quiet pathos from the immutable routines of a stranded group of men.
Frontier Blues
2010
Behind the camera
NRLeila is the devoted housekeeper of Madame Isabelle, who lives in a luxurious estate in the Palmeraie of Marrakech. Leila maintains the careful order of this timeless bubble, where everyone plays their role to perfection. Between her and Yusef, the head gardener, a tacit, quiet, and restrained friendship has formed. When Leila’s sister arrives unexpectedly, revealing a heavy secret from their past, the tranquillity of this microcosm begins to crack.
The Roses of Marrakesh
2026
6.3Donya, a lonely Afghan refugee and former translator, spends her twenties drifting through a meager existence in Fremont, California. Shuttling between her job writing fortunes for a fortune cookie factory and sessions with her eccentric therapist, Donya suffers from insomnia and survivor's guilt over those still left behind in Kabul as she desperately searches for love.
Fremont
2023
6.3Donya, a lonely Afghan refugee and former translator, spends her twenties drifting through a meager existence in Fremont, California. Shuttling between her job writing fortunes for a fortune cookie factory and sessions with her eccentric therapist, Donya suffers from insomnia and survivor's guilt over those still left behind in Kabul as she desperately searches for love.
Fremont
2023
NRPalestinian-Syrian teenager Nasser and his older brother Yassin have been living in a Greek refugee camp, awaiting a decision on their asylum application. They pass the time recording comedy sketches, fantasizing of making zombie films and moving to Sweden. Nasser, however, feels increasingly trapped in this no-man’s-land. With nowhere to escape, Boiling tensions in the camp push Nasser to another world.
Xoftex
2025
6.4A brilliant and misunderstood Iranian writer struggles to pursue his ambitious goal of bringing together Metallica and Kabul Dreams, Afghanistan's first rock band.
Radio Dreams
2017
6.4A brilliant and misunderstood Iranian writer struggles to pursue his ambitious goal of bringing together Metallica and Kabul Dreams, Afghanistan's first rock band.
Radio Dreams
2017
5.8Ever since he was a child, the seventeen-years-old Edoardo has suffered from a malformation of the foreskin that stops him from masturbating and makes him insecure and ill at ease with girls. Shut up in his sexless microcosm, Edoardo reacts with irritation to the pressures of the outside world, which do nothing but exacerbate his insecurity. Forced against his will to emerge from the shadows in which he has hidden for years, Edoardo will initially try to solve his problem by clumsy stratagems before finding, at last, the courage to face his own fears.
Short Skin
2015
7.0On Iran's northern frontier with Turkmenistan, the land of "heartbreak and tractors", director Babak Jalali mines absurdist humour and quiet pathos from the immutable routines of a stranded group of men.
Frontier Blues
2010
7.0On Iran's northern frontier with Turkmenistan, the land of "heartbreak and tractors", director Babak Jalali mines absurdist humour and quiet pathos from the immutable routines of a stranded group of men.
Frontier Blues
2010
Leon, an Irishman in his 70s, lives in a council block flat in the metropolitan area of Merseyside - his wife died recently, and his daughter Anna moved to Canada. His closest companion is his old colleague and best friend Saleh, of similar age who also lives alone on the same floor of the building. Leon and Saleh have been thick as thieves for years; still Leon finds it hard to talk to him about the recent plea his daughter Anna has made for him to join her and her family across the pond and start a new life in Nova Scotia.
A Town in Nova Scotia
—
Leon, an Irishman in his 70s, lives in a council block flat in the metropolitan area of Merseyside - his wife died recently, and his daughter Anna moved to Canada. His closest companion is his old colleague and best friend Saleh, of similar age who also lives alone on the same floor of the building. Leon and Saleh have been thick as thieves for years; still Leon finds it hard to talk to him about the recent plea his daughter Anna has made for him to join her and her family across the pond and start a new life in Nova Scotia.
A Town in Nova Scotia
—
6.0Three lonely people, each looking for love in their own ways. This is hard enough in any big city – never mind in Tehran, where individual freedoms can’t be taken for granted. In a sexy voice on the telephone, an overweight receptionist seduces men who wouldn’t look twice at her real ‘me’. A former bodybuilding champion now earns a living as a personal trainer. When he develops feelings for a promising young sportsman as a client; he drops everything else; even a very promising acting job for a well-known French director. A singer at religious funerals is dumped by his fiancée. He tries to find new purpose in life by retraining as a singer at weddings and parties. That’s a lot more attractive to women, his friend assures him.
Tehran: City of Love
2019
NRThe unexpected arrival of Uncle Baccio in the country house where his son Corso is spending his holidays with some friends has uncontrollable consequences.
Lo zio
2008
5.9The Yellow Eagle family are Native American and live on the Prairie Wolf Indian Reservation. News reaches them that Floyd, the youngest son of the family, has died during military service in Afghanistan. The waiting begins to get his body back to the Reservation to be buried.
Land
2018
5.9The Yellow Eagle family are Native American and live on the Prairie Wolf Indian Reservation. News reaches them that Floyd, the youngest son of the family, has died during military service in Afghanistan. The waiting begins to get his body back to the Reservation to be buried.
Land
2018
No synopsis available yet.
A Town in Patagonia
—
No synopsis available yet.
A Town in Patagonia
—
Heydar is working in Tehran but is learning English so that he can return to his home country, Afghanistan, as a translator.
Heydar, an Afghan in Tehran
2005
Heydar is working in Tehran but is learning English so that he can return to his home country, Afghanistan, as a translator.
Heydar, an Afghan in Tehran
2005
