Tara Aghdashloo () is an Iranian-born writer and director.
She is an advocate for women's rights issues, and has attended panels on issues relating to Iran and the Middle East, as well as discussions on women and diversity in filmmaking. Her activism has made her a target for the Iranian authorities.
Tara Aghdashloo was born in Tehran to the architect Firouzeh "Fay" Athari and the painter Aydin Aghdashloo. When she was in high school her family moved to Toronto, Canada.
She studied print journalism and political science at the Toronto Metropolitan University, and Global Media and Post-national Communication at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies. https://taraaghdashloo.com/about/
Aghdashloo's first narrative short The Ride premiered at Cinequest Film Festival in California and was funded by BFI Network, Canada Council of the Arts, and Toronto Arts Council. The short film Bridge, commissioned by the BBC, was based on a spoken-word poem by Gemma Barnett and premiered at Norwich Film Festival. Her third narrative short, Empty Your Pockets, is her first Persian language film.
Tara's journalism and documentaries have appeared on Channel 4 News, and BBC World. She was a founding co-host and producer on the first Persian-speaking all-female talk show, Samte No.
Her poetry has appeared in English and Persian magazines, and her poetry collection, This is Not a Pomegranate, was published by Shahrvand Publications in 2011.
She co-directed and curated The Invisible Line (TIL) Gallery in East London for two years. In 2017 she curated a retrospective of Portuguese artist Cristina Rodrigues in Castelo Branco Museum. She frequently reviews art by Iranian and Middle Eastern artists.