Ali Asgari is an Iranian filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer born in Tehran in 1982. After studying cinema in Italy, he began his career as an assistant director and emerged internationally through a series of acclaimed short films. He is also an alumnus of the Berlinale Talent Campus.

Asgari’s cinema offers a precise and often critical portrait of contemporary Iranian society, particularly the bureaucratic, social, and political pressures placed on individuals. His stories frequently focus on people living at the margins whose private decisions come into conflict with institutional authority.

His short film More Than Two Hours competed for the Short Film Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, while The Baby premiered in competition at the Venice International Film Festival in 2014. The Silence was selected for the Short Film Competition at Cannes in 2016.

Asgari made his feature debut with Disappearance, developed through the Cannes Cinéfondation Residence. The film premiered in the Orizzonti Competition at the 2017 Venice International Film Festival and subsequently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. His second feature, Until Tomorrow, premiered in the Panorama section of the 2022 Berlinale.

In 2023, Asgari co-directed Terrestrial Verses with Alireza Khatami. Structured through a series of encounters between ordinary citizens and figures of authority, the film premiered in Un Certain Regard at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

His autobiographical essay film Higher Than Acidic Clouds premiered at IDFA in 2024. Combining documentary observation, memory, and imagination, the film reflects on censorship, confinement, and the filmmaker’s relationship with Tehran.

Asgari returned to Venice in 2025 with Divine Comedy, a satirical examination of censorship and artistic resistance, which premiered in the Orizzonti Competition. In 2026, he served as a member of the Short Films and La Cinef Jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

His latest feature, A Bit of Light, was selected for the main competition of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, where it will have its world premiere in 2026.

Salaud Morisset handles the worldwide sales of Asgari’s latest feature, A Bit of Light, which will have its world premiere in the Main Competition of the 2026 Venice International Film Festival. This marks a new chapter in the company’s long-standing collaboration with the filmmaker.