Hayedeh Safiyari

Hayedeh Safiyari (, ; born 27 June 1959 in Gorgan) is an Iranian film editor. In her more than forty years of work, she has collaborated on over 90 feature films and documentaries. She has received four Iranian film awards (Crystal Simorgh Awards) for her work, among other honors and was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She is considered one of the most renowned film editors in Iran. She remembers to have discovered her passion for editing when she edited films by other students as part of her thesis. After graduating, she first worked for the Iranian state television, then as a sound editor on one feature film and subsequently on five more.

She became an assistant editor to film director Bahram Beyzai, who edited his own films as well as selected projects for other film directors. While working with him, she received further offers that enabled her to break into the Iranian film industry, Safiyari said in an interview with Filmmaker Magazine.

The majority of the edits she has carried out are for internationally well-acclaimed filmmakers such as Asghar Farhadi, Bahram Beyzai, Bahman Ghobadi, Rakhshan Banietemad, Reza Dormishian, and Pooran Derakhshande. She is best known for her long-time collaborations with Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, including the Oscar-winning A Separation and The Salesman.

Hayedeh Safiyari has received several prestigious awards. Among them are the Crystal Simorgh, the Statue of the Cinema House, the Asian Film Award, the Jury Prize of Iran's film Critics & Writers Association. Two of her films, The Salesman (2016) and A Separation (2011), both directed by Asghar Farhadi, have been awarded with an Academy Award in the category as the Best foreign-language Film. She extended her professional work to many countries, including USA, France, Spain, Italy, Sweaden, and Turkey.

Safiyari has edited over 90 feature fiction films and several documentaries over a span of forty years. Many of these films have been selected by major international film festivals, e. g. among others the Cannes Film Festival, BFI, Berlin International Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Golden Globe Awards, and the Locarno Film Festival.

In 2023 she was awarded Best Editing in the 6th Asian Film Awards for A Separation.

Work Hayedeh Safiyari has been working as a film editor since 1981. She works exclusively on arthouse films and is considered one of the most renowned film editors in Iran.

She is best known for her long-standing collaboration with Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, including the Oscar-winning films A Separation and The Salesman.

In the interview book “Asghar Farhadi. Interviews”, Farhadi repeatedly comments on his long-standing collaboration with Hayedeh Safiyari. On average, they developed the rhythm of each film together, which he considers one of the essential elements of his work. Many details of earlier stages of work, from the script to the actual on-set filming, would only be harmonized “... while editing, so the final rhythm passes through the filter of editing.”

Private Life Hayedeh Safiyari was married to the Iranian screenwriter and film director Mohsen Abdolvahab. Their daughter, Sepideh Abdolvahab, born in 1984, has also been working as a film editor since 2006. She began her career in 2002 as her mother's assistant editor on Asghar Farhadi's film drama A Separation. She subsequently worked with her on other films.

Filmography (Selection) 1998: The Glass Agency, Director: Ebrahim Hatamikia 1999: The Red Ribbon, Director: Ebrahim Hatamikia 2002: Low Heights, Director: Ebrahim Hatamikia 2002: Marooned in Iraq, Director: Bahman Ghobadi 2004: Turtles Can Fly, Director: Bahman Ghobadi 2006: Fireworks Wednesday, Director: Asghar Farhadi 2008: Dayere Zangi, Director: Parisa Bakhtavar 2009: Whisper with the Wind, Director: Shahram Alidi 2009: About Elly, Director: Asghar Farhadi 2011: A Separation, Director: Asghar Farhadi 2012: Modest Reception, Director: Mani Haghighi 2012: Hatred, Director: Reza Dormishian 2012: The Orange Suit, Director: Dariush Mehrjui 2013: Good to Be Back, Director: Dariush Mehrjui 2013: Hush! Girls Don't Scream, Director: Pouran Derakhshandeh 2016: A Dragon Arrives!, Director: Mani Haghighi 2016: Lantouri, Director: Reza Dormishian 2016: I'm Not Angry!, Director: Reza Dormishian 2016: The Salesman, Director: Asghar Farhadi 2017: Under the Smoky Roof, Director: Pouran Derakhshandeh 2017: Simulation, Director: Abed Abest 2018: Everybody Knows, Director: Asghar Farhadi 2019: A Man without a Shadow, Director: Alireza Raeesian 2021: A Hero, Director: Asghar Farhadi 2021: Brother's Keeper, Director: Ferit Karahan 2021: Naboodan (Absence), Director: Ali Mosaffa 2022: Holy Spider, Director: Ali Abbasi 2023: Bread and Roses, Director: Sahra Mani 2024: Shakkar, Director: Nasim Kiani 2024: In the Land of Brothers, Director: Raha Amirfazli, Alireza Ghasemi 2025: The Bitter Tears of Zahra Zand, Director: Vahid Hakimzadeh 2025: An Eye for an Eye, Director: Tanaz Eshaghian, Farzad Jafari

Awards 1998: Crystal Simorgh for Best Editing at the Fajr Film Festival for The Glass Agency 1999: Crystal Simorgh for Best Editing at the Fajr Film Festival for The Red Ribbon 2006: Crystal Simorgh for Best Editing at the Fajr Film Festival for Fireworks Wednesday 2012: Crystal Simorgh for Best Editing at the Fajr Film Festival for The Orange Suit 2012: Asian Film Award, Best Editing for Nader and Simin 2014: Jury Prize for Best Editing from Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association for I'm Not Angry! 2014: Jury Prize for Best Editing from Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association for Hatred 2016: Jury Prize for Best Editing from Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association for A Dragon Arrives! 2019: Hafez Award for Best Editing in the Feature Film category for I'm Not Angry! 2021: Hafez Award for Best Editing in the Feature Film category for A Hero 2021: Best Editing International Competition of the Ankara Film Festival for Brother's Keeper, with Ferit Karahan and Sercan Sezgin 2021: Best Editing, Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival for Brother's Keeper, together with Ferit Karahan and Sercan Sezgin 2022: Jury Prize at the St Andrews Film Festival for Naboodan 2023: Best Editing, Danish Film Awards for Holy Spider, with Olivia Neergaard-Holm 2025: Best Editing of an Documentary Film, Tribeca Film Festival for An Eye for an Eye, with Soren B. Ebbe