A photo of Mahtab Rezayi, an Iranian filmmaker based in Austin, TX. Black and white portrait of a young woman with long wavy hair, wearing a checkered shirt, sitting outdoors with a blurred background, looking at the camera with a slight smile.

Mahtab Rezayi is an MFA candidate in Film Production at the University of Texas at Austin. Originally from Iran, she uses her work to explore intimate, character-driven stories that examine power, cultural identity, and the quiet violence of social expectations, often through the perspectives of women and those pushed to the margins.

Her documentary Pretty has screened internationally, including at the IAWRT Asian Women’s Film Festival and the International Folklore Film Festival, and earned a nomination at the Festival del Cinema di Cefalù and a Quarter-Finalist placement at the WideScreen Film & Music Video Festival.

Her recent narrative shorts, Ideal Figures and The Mortal Mrs. Ericson, are currently on the festival circuit. She is now developing her next project, The Seventh Valley.