Omid Nooshin (2 May 1974 – 15 January 2018) was an English film director and writer. He was best known for his debut independent feature film Last Passenger.

Omid Nooshin
Omid Nooshin
Born
Omid Nooshin

(1974-05-02)2 May 1974
Died (aged 43)
NationalityBritish
OccupationDirector
Years active1994–2017

Early life

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Nooshin was born in Guildford, Surrey, in 1974, the son of Hoshyar Nooshin, Emeritus Professor of Space Structures at Surrey University. He cites Star Wars as his inspiration to begin making short films at the age of 11, and wrote his first feature film outline whilst studying for his maths A-level at Christ’s College School, Guildford. He went on to study film at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham.[1]

Early career

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Upon graduation, Nooshin began making short films and commercials. During this time he took every opportunity to get close to film production, gatecrashing the sets of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and George LucasStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. In the late 1990s, Nooshin travelled to New York and spent much of his time at famed method acting institute The Actor’s Studio, watching others including Arthur Penn take drama classes. In 1999, his short film Panic, based on a true story of a carjacking gone awry, played at several international film festivals and opened doors with industry executives in London and Los Angeles. Soon after, Nooshin began writing feature scripts and signed with talent agency CAA.

Breakthrough

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In 2008 Nooshin's script for Last Passenger was voted onto the Brit List[clarification needed] of favourite unproduced British screenplays. It later was made into a film starring Dougray Scott, for which Nooshin received a nomination for the Douglas Hickox Award For Best Debut Director at The British Independent Film Awards.[2][3]

In a 2013 interview for his former college Nooshin expressed his view that "The film industry is built on a cultural fault line where the tectonic plates of art and commerce meet. As a filmmaker you should anticipate and be prepared to tough out frequent tremors and the occasional earthquake."[4]

Death

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Nooshin died suddenly on 15 January 2018 at the age of 43.[5]

Filmography

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Feature films

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Short films

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  • Panic (1999) (writer, director, composer, actor, producer)
  • Rooftop (1996) (writer, director, composer, producer)

Awards

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Year Award Category/Recipient Result Reference
2013 British Independent Film Awards The Douglas Hickox Award (Debut Director) Nominated

References

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  1. ^ "Praise for Farnham college graduate's 'really outstanding' train thriller". 8 August 2013.
  2. ^ "Suspense, trains, brand new special effects: The return of the British action thriller". TheGuardian.com. 5 October 2013.
  3. ^ "Press Release : BIFA". Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  4. ^ "UCA | University for the Creative Arts". Archived from the original on 23 October 2013.
  5. ^ Wiseman, Andreas. "Omid Nooshin, UK director of 'Last Passenger', dies aged 43". ScreenDaily. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
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