Houchang Allahyari


Houchang Allahyari is an Austrian psychiatrist and filmmaker of Iranian origin.

Biography

Born in 1941, in Pahlavi Iran, Allahyari emigrated to Austria as a teenager. In Vienna, where he still lives today, he studied medicine and worked for a long time as a psychiatrist in prisons.
From 1970 onward, he made numerous short films, and later several feature films, of which I Love Vienna, Höhenangst, and Born in Absurdistan in particular found a wider audience. Allahyari repeatedly addresses the fates of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in his films, often dramatically, but with humor.
In October 2009, he presented the documentary film Bock for President, about the work of Ute Bock, a refugee aid worker, which he created together with his son Tom-Dariusch Allahyari. This earned them both the first-ever Austrian Film Award. In 2014, Allahyari received the Diagonale Film Award for Best Austrian Feature Film for The Last Dance.
Allahyari received another award in November 2023: the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria.

Filmography

Allahyari's filmography includes: