Niki Karimi is a self-thought Visual artist best know for her works as film maker, writer, photographer, actress and producer.
Born in Iran, Tehran, She began working in cinema from age 18.
Her works ranges from bold portraits of women in Iran, injustices and human existence and conflicts.
She worked with Abbas Kiarostami from 1996 to 2005 as his assistant, camera men and actress.
In 2001, she started film making by making a documentary about infertility entitled “To have or not to have” which has been premiered in Barbican center and Ifc in London and later in many festivals.
In 2005 she made her directorial debut film entitled “One night” which was screened at Cannes Film Festival, Uncertain regards. After that (One night) has been shown in numerous international film festivals. “A few days later” premiered at “Rome film festival” was her second film. Final Whistle and Night Shift were also screened at acclaimed film festivals around the globe and also got jury award in fajr film festival in Iran.
Her most recent film “Atabai” was nominated in five sections at Fajr Film Festival and was invited for the competition at Asia Pacific Screen Award. Atabai also won best film , best director , best music and best supporting actor from Iranian Critic society in 2022.
As an actress in “Sara” directed by Dariush Mehrjoui, that brought her the best actress award from “San Sebastian” film festival and “Nantes film festival in 1992. She played in several movies for which she was nominated or awarded for best actress award at acclaimed film festivals including “Cairo film festival” in Egypt, “Taormina film festival” in Italy and “Fajr film festival” in Tehran and also Iranian film Society. She holds 60 acting credits, excluding the series, worked with splendid directors and received various awards.
Niki Karimi has been among the jury members at several acclaimed and prestigious international film festivals around the globe. She was jury member at Cannes, 2007. She was also juror at Berlinale, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Edinburgh, Thessaloniki, to name a few.
She has also translated several books including novels and poetries into Farsi.
Her works as Photographer has been exhibited in Iran and other countries.