Mehdi Norowzian

Mehdi Norowzian grew up in Tehran, where he remained until he was sixteen. He lost his father when he was nine and has little recollection of the event. His mother Azra was the rock in Mehdi's life; she had a tough time bringing up five boys in the mid-sixties to mid-seventies although always encouraged Mehdi to follow art and painting, giving him a book of paintings by the early Russian classic painters. These images had a lasting impression on Mehdi. In 1973 she packed up Mehdi with some of his paintings and sent him to London to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. Mehdi gained his first introduction to film in the final year of a fine art course at Hornsey College of Art in London. Then followed a three-year MA film course at the Royal College of Art in London where Mehdi experimented with visual storytelling. David Lean and Ridley Scott presenting Mehdi with his MA certificate at the end of the course remains a cherished memory for Mehdi. After a few years as an assistant director Mehdi returned to his own projects, making several experimental films before being signed to direct commercials. Mehdi went on to work with some of the biggest names in advertising and was named one of the top 30 Commercial Directors by D & AD; his soulful, striking, sophisticated work winning international acclaim and multiple awards. Mehdi then teamed up with college friend and writer Chris Fallon, directing Chris's Oscar-nominated short film Killing Joe (1999), which brought Mehdi to the attention of Hollywood. This led to Mehdi directing the critically acclaimed independent feature film Leo (2002) starring Joseph Fiennes, Elisabeth Shue, Dennis Hopper and Sam Shepard, which featured at Toronto and London Film Festival respectively. Mehdi is now back with three projects in development; a feature film thriller, a historical epic and an original sci-fi.