Javad Daraei

Javad Daraei (Persian:جواد دارایی, born 1992) is a British-Iranian film director, screenwriter, and playwright, known for his underground films that expose the harsh realities faced by persecuted minorities in Iran—including women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities. A survivor of torture and political imprisonment by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) He is an alumnus of IASH from the University of Edinburgh .

He is known for directing the short films “I Don’t Like Here” (2016) and “Limit” (2017), His short films have screened at several Academy-qualifying festivals, ang his feature debut Metamorphosis in the Slaughterhouse (2021) won multiple awards in the United States and Europe despite being made under highly restricted and clandestine conditions in Iran.

His work often explores themes of trauma, exile, identity, and survival. As he has said: “Before, I used to write to live. Now, I write just to survive.”.