Babak Najafi Karami (Persian: بابک نجفی, born 14 September 1975) is an Iranian-Swedish film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer.[1] He is known for directing the 2016 film London Has Fallen.

Babak Najafi
بابک نجفی
Babak Najafi at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival, 2010.
Born
Babak Najafi Karami

(1975-09-14) 14 September 1975 (age 49)
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter
Dragomir Mrsic and Babak Najafi at the 48th Guldbagge Awards.

Early years

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Najafi was born in Iran, and came to Sweden as a refugee at the age of 11, when his family fled from the Iran–Iraq War.[2] Two of his brothers remained in Tehran, and it took 11 years before they met again.[2] The family settled in Uppsala, where he spent his childhood.[2] Between 1998 and 2002, he studied documentary directing at the Dramatiska Institutet.[1][2]

Career

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After graduation he wrote and directed a number of acclaimed short films, including the short film comedy Elixir (2004), which he was awarded the Bo Widerberg scholarship.[1][2] In 2010, he made his directorial debut with the film Sebbe, which won a Guldbagge Award for Best Film, and earned him a nomination as best director at the 46th Guldbagge Awards. At the 60th Berlin International Film Festival, the film was competing in the Generation 14Plus category, for which Najafi won the award for Best First Feature.[3][4] In 2012, he directed Easy Money II: Hard to Kill, the sequel to the 2010 film Easy Money.

Najafi made his English-language film debut with London Has Fallen (2016), the sequel to the 2013 film Olympus Has Fallen. The film was released to mostly negative reviews,[5] but earned 205.8 million against a 60 million budget.[6]

Filmography

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Year Title Original title Country of

Production

Credited as Notes
Director Writer DOP
1999 Rasten Sweden Yes No No Short film
2001 Gösta and Lennart Gösta & Lennart Sweden Yes No No Producer

Short film

2002 Pablo's Birthday Pablos födelsedag Sweden Yes Yes No Short
2003 Skolan Sweden Yes No Yes Video
2004 Elixir Sweden, Norway Yes Yes No Short film
2008 Jag förstår inte Sweden Yes Yes Yes Short film
2010 Sebbe Sweden Yes Yes No Directorial debut
2012 Easy Money II: Hard to Kill Snabba cash II Sweden Yes Yes No
2013 The Day My Dad Was Shot Gabriel och lasermannen Sweden Yes Yes Yes
2015 Boys Pojkarna Sweden No Yes No Short film[7]
2016 London Has Fallen United States Yes No No
2018 Proud Mary United States Yes No No

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Babak Najafi". Swedish Film Database. Swedish Film Institute. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e Svensson, Karin (March 16, 2010). "Babak Najafi vill visa känslor". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved December 28, 2015.
  3. ^ "Svensk film glänste i Berlin". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). February 21, 2010. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
  4. ^ "Prizes & Honours 2010". Berlin International Film Festival. Retrieved December 28, 2015.
  5. ^ "London Has Fallen reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  6. ^ "London Has Fallen (2016)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  7. ^ "Boys". 9 September 2015 – via www.imdb.com.
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