Maziar Bahari, the Iranian-Canadian documentary filmmaker, founded Off-Centre Productions in 2005 and has produced films for broadcasters including the BBC, Channel4, HBO, Discovery, Canal+ and NHK. Our productions have been featured in more than 50 international festivals. In November 2017, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam held a retrospective on Bahari’s work. Our films look at human rights, social issues and awareness-raising campaigns focusing on Iran, the Middle East and beyond.
Human rights
Changing the World, One Wall at a Time
Beautiful murals are created around the world as part of a campaign against education inequality in Iran.
To Light a Candle
The little-known story of the underground university of Iranian Baha’is who are persecuted and killed by the government.
Forced Confessions
The tragic story of how Iran has been forcing its citizens to confess against themselves on television for the past 4 decades.
Women
And Along Came a Spider
A religious serial killer murders 16 prostitutes in the city of Mashad in Iran.
My Stealthy Freedom Documentary
Journalist Masih Alinejad stages a Facebook revolution by providing a forum to take off their veils and share their stories.
Football, Iranian Style
Women are banned from attending football stadiums, but it doesn’t stop them from being fanatics.
Iranian Society and Arts
Kiosk: A Generation Destroyed by Madness
How a rock group was born in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and how its music reflects the frustration of young Iranians.
Hemeh Danha (The Know It All People)
The most difficult words to utter for many Iranians are: I don’t know.
Paint! No Matter What
The story of Khosrow, a green grocer who paints masterpieces at his store at night.
Art of Demolition
4 artists in Tehran pay an homage to their decaying city by turning a building about to be demolished into an art exhibition.
Mohammad and the Matchmaker
A fly on the wall of look at AIDS in Iran, and how a doctor is determined to find a wife for his HIV+ patient.
Regional Politics and Religion
Targets: Reporters in Iraq
The first casualty of war are truth and those who want to report the truth of the war. The story of a group of journalists in Iraq.
Afghanistan: My Return to the Valley of Death
An Afghan immigrant returns to his hometown which has become an Al Qaeda stronghold and the murder capital of Afghanistan.
Online Ayatollah
Maziar Bahari is the only filmmaker who has ever filmed inside the house of a grand ayatollah. The resulting is a riveting documentary.
Welcome to Sadr City
A rare insight into one of Iraq’s most dangerous areas where very few foreigner have dared to visit.
Shiaistan
What do Iraqi Shias want? Rare interview with members of Shia death squads.
History
An Iranian Hero of the Holocaust
The story of the Iranian Schindler who saved hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust in Paris.
Abdolhossein Sardari: An Iranian Hero of the Holocaust
The Fall of the Shah
The inside story of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
An Iranian Odyssey
The definitive film about 1953 CIA engineered a coup to overthrow the prime minister of Iran.