Staff Profile

BIOGRAPHY

Tina Gharavi is a BAFTA-nominated filmmaker, screenwriter, and academic whose work interrogates questions of migration, representation, and authorship. Born in Tehran just before the Islamic Revolution, she spent her formative years in the United Kingdom and the United States, later studying at the national school for comtemporay art in France: Le Fresnoy. Her early career included work in war zones and guerrilla filmmaking, experiences that inform both her practice and pedagogy.

Her feature debut, I Am Nasrine (2012), follows an Iranian teenager navigating exile and asylum in Britain. The film was nominated for a BAFTA and commended for its sensitive exploration of displacement and resilience. She later directed episodes of the television series The Tunnel: Vengeance and directed Netflix’s controversial Queen Cleopatra (2023), a docudrama that provoked international debate around race and historical narrative. Most recently, she completed principal photography on her third feature, Virginia Woolf's Night & Day, the first screen adaptation of Woolf’s 1919 novel, featuring Timothy Spall, Jennifer Saunders, Jack Whitehall and Lily Allen.

Alongside her filmmaking, Gharavi is Reader in Screenwriting and Film at Newcastle University, where she supervises practice-based research in screenwriting, adaptation, and documentary. She is the founder of Bridge + Tunnel Productions, a company dedicated to stories with global resonance. Her academic contributions extend internationally, including teaching and mentorship in film practice.

Elected to the BAFTA Academy in 2017 and a Fellow of the MIT Open Documentary Lab, Gharavi continues to build a career at the intersection of scholarship, creative practice, and public engagement, with professional bases in both the UK and France.

FILMOGRAPHY

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1314401/

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Screenwriting, Documentary Theory & Practice, Community Engagement & Interactive Digital Storytelling. Ethics of Storytelling.

POSTGRADUATE SUPERVISION

Supervises students in practice-based research including screenwriting, adaptation, interactive narrative, documentary and subjects as wide as poetry and censorship in Iran.

ESTEEM INDICATORS

BAFTA Academy Member 

BAFTA LA Member

MIT Open Documentary Fellowship

BIFA & BAFTA Jury Member

British American Project

Directors UK 

BOARD OF TRUSTEES (current + previous)

Newcastle Contemporary Art Gallery

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art 

Tyneside Cinema

British Refugee Council

Regional Council, Arts Council North East

FUNDING (selection)

British Film Institute, Film Four, Arts Council England, British Council, Film Council UK, Heritage Lottery Fund, Baring Foundation, Northern Rock Foundation, Big Lottery Fund, Catherine Cookson Fund, British Council for Research in the Levant, UKTI, & Netflix.

Industrial Relevance

25+ years experience as practicing filmmaker.

Selection of Course Taught (past & present):

SEL3346 Contemporary Documentary 1: Theory and Practice Module Leader View

SEL3347 Contemporary Documentary 2: Theory & Practice Module Leader View

SEL3324 The Cultural Industries (Semester 1) Module Leader View

SEL3325 The Cultural Industries (Semester 2) Module Leader View

SEL8061 Personal Documentary Practice Module Leader View

SEL8062 Self-Reflexive Documentary Film Module Leader View

FMS8353 Screenwriting Module Leader View

SEL8640 The Profession of Writing Lecturer View

• Artefacts

  • Gharavi T. i-Kooch – Interactive Web Narrative Project. UK: Nomad Cultural Forum, 2006.
  • Gharavi T. Featherhead. UK: UK Film Council, Northern Film & Media, Superkrush, Bridge + Tunnel Productions, 2005.
  • Gharavi T. Bread: Palestine/Israel (A documentary Installation). UK: Bridge + Tunnel Productions, 2005.

• Book Chapter

  • Gharavi T. Narrative cannibals : Who speaks for whom? Heritage, documentary practice and the strategies of power. In: Ashley SLT; Stone D, ed. Whose Heritage? Challenging Race and Identity in Stuart Hall’s Post-nation Britain. London: Routledge, 2023, pp.137-153.

• Creative Writing

  • Gharavi T. The Good Iranian (Feature length screenplay). 2019. In Preparation.
  • Gharavi T. Forough: A Lonely Woman (Feature length screenplay). 2019. Bridge + Tunnel Productions, British Film Institute. In Preparation.

• Digital or Visual Media

  • Gharavi Tina. Virginia Woolf's Night & Day. Piccadilly Pictures, 2025. In Preparation.
  • Gharavi T. African Queens: Queen Cleopatra. Netflix, 2023. TV Series.
  • Gharavi T. Tribalism is Killing Us. Bridge + Tunnel Productions, 2020. Documentary film.
  • Gharavi Tina. The King & I. Bridge + Tunnel Productions, 2020. In Preparation.
  • Gharavi Tina. I Am Other: 1,000,000 Pixels for Change. 2020. In Preparation.
  • Gharavi T. Digital X-Roads: Raising Critical Awareness Around Social Justice Through Participatory Filmmaking & Digital Storytelling Tools. 2020. In Preparation.
  • Gharavi T. Lifelines: Digital Storytelling Across Cultures (website, workshops and teaching resource). Bridge + Tunnel Voices, 2017.
  • Gharavi T. People Like Us. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Bridge + Tunnel Productions, 2016. DVD.
  • Gharavi T. I Am Nasrine. UK: Bridge + Tunnel Productions, 2012. DVD.
  • Gharavi T. The King Of South Shields. UK: Arts Council England, 2008. DVD (Digital Video).
  • Gharavi T. Last of the Dictionary Men: A Documentary Film. Newcastle, UK: Bridge + Tunnel Productions, 2008. DVD, Digital Video.
  • Gharavi T. A Town Like Lackawanna. USA/UK: Hallwalls Media Institute, 2004. DVD (Digital Video, 25’).
  • Gharavi T. Mother/Country. UK: Frameline, 2002. DVD (Digital Video, 25').
  • Gharavi T. Closer. UK/FR: Women Make Movies, 2001. DVD (35mm film).

• Exhibition

  • Gharavi T. Last of the Dictionary Men: Stories From the South Shields Yemeni Sailors. A hybrid-project with several component parts: touring exhibition and museum installation (first shown 2008) plus catalogue (2013). 2008. UK: Bridge + Tunnel Productions.