Tara Aghdashloo is an award-winning writer, director, multidisciplinary artist and poet born in Iran. She is a published author who has worked as an essayist and journalist before transitioning to film. Since transitioning to narrative filmmaking, her short films have been commissioned by BFI Network, Canada Council of the Arts, BBC, Ontario Arts Council, and Toronto Arts Council, among others, and have competed at festivals globally, with 20 award nominations and 10 wins. Tara is a part of the Women In the Director’s Chair (WIDC) cohort in 2025 and is developing her feature film slate.

Vicarious — A successful exiled director who can’t return to her home country enlists the help of a young out-of-work artist to travel on her behalf, as a complicated dynamic develops.