Saeed Roustayi
Saeed Roustaee, also spelled Saeed Roustayi, is an Iranian filmmaker, screenwriter and producer. His works primarily focus on issues of social injustice, as well as his portrayals of women in Iranian society.
His second feature, Just 6.5, was nominated for the César Award for Best Foreign Film. His third and fourth films, Leila's Brothers and Woman and Child, were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022 and 2025, respectively.
In June 2025, Roustayi was invited to join the Directors Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Early life
He graduated from Soore University with a Bachelor of Film and Television in Directing.Career
Life and a Day is his first major cinematic work. At the Fajr International Film Festival, Roustayi won 2 Crystal Simorghs for best directing and best screenplay. He received the 2016 Reflet d'Or for Best Feature at the Geneva International [Film Festival Tous Ecrans].2023 imprisonment
His third feature film Leila's Brothers competed in the 2022 Cannes Film Festival where it won the FIPRESCI Prize for films screened in the main competition section.In August 2023, the Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced Roustayi to six months in prison for entering Leila's Brothers in the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, claiming that the film participated in "the opposition’s propaganda against the Islamic system". Roustayi alleged that Iran's Ministry of Culture had requested a series of scene changes to Leila's Brothers which he had refused to implement. Roustayi is due to serve nine days of his sentence and a suspended period of five years, as well as participating in other punitive measures such as completing a course on "creating movies aligned with national interests and national morality".