Amina Maher was born 1992, in
Tehran, Iran. She started writing poems and short stories at a very early age. Her creative work is rooted in exploring interpersonal relationships, childhood memories, mental health and self-realization with a mission to amplify trans and queer storylines. Amina Maher began her cinematic activity as the main actor in Abbas Kiarostami and Mania Akbari's
Ten, which recorded ten-year-old Amina sitting in the passenger seat of her mother's car without her knowledge. Maher left her family at the age of fifteen and began to live on her own. Between 2006 and 2012, Maher continued her cinematic activity as an actor, assistant director and editor to her mother,
Mania Akbari, on several films, such as
10+4 which premiered at Cannes Acid Section and
San Sebastián International Film Festival in 2006, as well as
From Tehran to London, premiered in 2013 at
International Film Festival Rotterdam. In 2007, she started filming her friends both at school and later at university. She was arrested two days after
2009 Iranian presidential election and had been subjected to serious beatings. The reasons for her arrest were her support to
Iranian Green Movement and that she had been identified as an active participant during the presidential campaign. In 2010, she began her study at
University of Tehran. Three months later, she was arrested for the second time due to her political activities and for attending the Student Day demonstration against the dictatorship. This time she spent a week in the notorious
Evin prison. Maher subsequently left Iran to Dubai and then to Malaysia. In 2016, she received her bachelor's degree in filmmaking from Limkokwing University in Malaysia. Her first student short film was
Cold Wine (2012), followed by
Orange and
One Window Will Suffice. Her multi-award winning short film,
Letter to My Mother (2019), was well received internationally with over 200 festival selections and over 50 Awards. For four years in a row, the film has been constantly programmed among numerous arthouse-oriented film festivals. It has been part of
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival forum as well as the competitions at numerous international film festivals, such as 36th Kasseler Dokfest, 38th
Feminale - The International Dortmund | Cologne Women's Film Festival, the 15th
Shorts México and the 26th
Chéries-Chéris (Festival du Film Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans & ++++ de Paris). The film is about her own experiences of childhood sexual abuse. The film was described in reviews variously as avant-garde, poignant and moving. It navigates the space between self-exploration and family politics within a sociocultural framework.
Letter to My Mother received awards such as the Audience Award and the Special Jury Prize at the 23rd
Indie Memphis Film Festival, USA and Special Jury price at the 15th
Shorts México and the
Beirut International Women Film Festival. Due to directing controversial films, Maher fled to Germany in 2018. After moving to Berlin in 2019, she started her MA degree study in film directing at
Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg. Maher is also a genderqueer feminist activist. Her activism is about body politics & transgender rights concerning the experiences of marginalization, sexual abuse, sexuality, dictatorship and oppressive systems, decolonizing the body and gender. She encourages herself and her environment to embrace vulnerability and reclaim bodies, care and pleasure. ==
Letter to My Mother (2019)==