Rakhshan Banietemad (Persian: ????? ???????????, born April 3, 1954 in Tehran, Iran) is an internationally and critically acclaimed Iranian film director and screenwriter.
She is widely considered a premier female director, and her films have been praised at international festivals as well as being popular with Iranian critics and audiences.
Her title as "First Lady of Iranian Cinema" is not only a reference to her prominence as a filmmaker, but also connotes her social role of merging politics and family in her work.