Navid Khonsari
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Navid Khonsari | |
|---|---|
 Khonsari in 2014 | |
| Born | 1970 (age 55–56)[1] |
| Alma mater | University of British Columbia Vancouver Film School |
| Occupations | CEO, Creator of 1979 Revolution: Black Friday, writer, director, producer |
| Organization | iNK Stories |
| Spouse | Vassiliki Bessie Khonsari |
| Website | Company Website |
Navid Khonsari (Persian: نوید خونساری) (born 1970) is an Iranian-Canadian video game, virtual/mixed reality, film and graphic novel creator, writer, director and producer.[2]
Khonsari worked on several games at Rockstar Games, including Grand Theft Auto III and Max Payne. He is the co-founder of iNK Stories, a video game development studio responsible for 1979 Revolution: Black Friday and Lili, which world premiered its prequel at Cannes 2025, the first video game ever in competition at Cannes. He is an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University.[3]
Khonsari was raised in his homeland Iran until 10.[2] He fled Iran as a political refugee to Canada after the 1979 Revolution with his family.[2] He graduated from the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Film School.[citation needed]
Career
His first short film was titled Arcade Angels, which focused on video game burnouts who robbed a video rental store in an attempt to open an arcade. He wrote and produced The Contract, his first film with Billy Dee Williams.[citation needed]
Khonsari's first video game work was Grand Theft Auto III and Max Payne, after joining Rockstar Games in 2000.[2] During his five years at Rockstar, Khonsari was the cinematic director and built the production pipeline on Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City,[4] Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Max Payne, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, Midnight Club II, Manhunt, Red Dead Revolver, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, The Warriors, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.[citation needed] Khonsari worked with Capcom on Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.[citation needed]
He left Rockstar and has since worked on a number of games including Alan Wake and Homefront.[2] He met his wife, Vassiliki, while directing the documentary Pindemonium, where she acted as the cinematographer and producer. Together, Navid and Vassiliki co-founded iNK Stories and produced another documentary, Pulling John, which premiered at South by Southwest and streamed on Netflix. In 2016, iNK Stories released 1979 Revolution: Black Friday.[5]
The game received several awards and was recognized by UNESCO as a digital solution for peaceful conflict resolution; Khonsari was politically exiled by the government of Iran, deemed a US spy. Khonsari's subsequent projects include: HERO, a site-specific multi-sensory VR experience of civilian warfare in Syria, which premiered at Sundance and Tribeca Film Festival and won the Storyscape Award for Best Immersive; Blindfold, which premiered at Sheffield; and Fire Escape, premiering at Tribeca. Lili stars Zar Amir and is a co-production with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Alambic Productions. It is a neo-noir adaptation of Macbeth set in Iran and is currently in development as a film and a video game. The prequel world premiered at Cannes in 2025 as the first video game ever in competition and at Venice International Film Festival in 2025.
Khonsari is a juror and a member of the Peabody Interactive Board for the Peabody Awards.[6]