The Woman Who Redefined Film
Her performance in Sara was revolutionary for its time: a woman torn between duty, sacrifice, and self-respect. The film earned her international acclaim, including the Best Actress Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, putting her cinema — on the world map. For Karimi, acting was only the beginning. She soon realized that to tell the stories she truly believed in, she needed to move behind the camera.
In 2001, she directed her first documentary, To Have or Not to Have, a sensitive exploration of infertility in society. The film was bold, intimate, and deeply human — a hallmark of her directorial approach. Her feature debut, One Night (2005), marked a turning point. Selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, it followed a young woman wandering Tehran at night, confronting loneliness and hidden layers of urban life.
