Amin Farzanefar studied Islamic Studies and German. He works as a freelance journalist for print and radio. In 2005, his book „Kino des Orient – Stimmen aus einer Region“ (Cinema of the Orient – Voices from a Region) was published by Verlag Schüren in the ARTE edition, the first comprehensive German-language monograph on the cinema of the Near and Middle East. Among the retrospectives and film series he has curated are Forever Young – Mummy Films from 9 Decades, Tüpisch Türkisch (2006-08), Der lachende Orient (2009) and the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Arab-Iranian Film Week WELL PLAYED (2007-09). As a film critic, he regularly attends film festivals in Iran, Cairo, Afghanistan, Turkey and Tunisia, among others.