Ali Limonadi
Ali Limonadi (Persian: علی لیمونادی) is an Iranian-born American film and television director, television producer, and journalist. He was the founder of IRTV (acronym for "Iranian television"; Persian:تلویزیون ایرانیان) in Los Angeles, the first television representation of the Iranian diaspora in the United States.
Also recorded as Alī Līmūnādī
Ali Limonadi

PersianDutchNetwork · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Ali Limonadi
- Birthplace
- Tehran, Iran
- Education
- Berlin University of the Arts
- Occupation
- Film director, television producer, journalist
- Known for
- IRTV
- Nationality
- Pahlavi Iran · United States
- Languages
- Persian · English
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
Ali Limonadi (Persian: علی لیمونادی) is an Iranian-born American film and television director, television producer, and journalist. He was the founder of IRTV (acronym for "Iranian television"; Persian:تلویزیون ایرانیان) in Los Angeles, the first television representation of the Iranian diaspora in the United States.
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Note VALÉORINE
Ali Limonadi was a film director, journalist and television producer and a national of Pahlavi Iran and the United States. The film director was born in Tehran. Ali Limonadi lived in Los Angeles. Languages used include English and Persian.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q28839682 · wikipedia · Ali Limonadi
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Ali Limonadi • Native Name — علی لیمونادی • Birthplace — Tehran, Iran • Education — Berlin University of the Arts • Occupation — Film director, television producer, journalist • Known for — IRTV
Early life and career
Early life and career
Ali Limonadi was born in Tehran. After high school he moved to Germany. From 1962 until 1968, he studied film directing and cinematography at the Berlin University of the Arts (German: Universität der Künste Berlin). "Das Abonnement" is one of his films which was screened in 1967 on that time. In 1979, months after the Iranian Revolution ended, Limonadi moved to the United States. He initially planned to stay for one year. In an interview Limonadi said: "At that time, we thought we would return to Iran after six months. We thought the situation would settle and that people could resume their lives back home. Some of us did not even fully unpack our bags."
Post-1979 career
Post-1979 career
On March 15, 1981, Limonadi launched the first Iranian television station outside Iran named, IRTV (acronym for "Iranian television") shown on television channel KSCI. He had his own television broadcasting studio based in Studio City, Los Angeles, and he would periodically rent it out. He produced the television series, Iranian. Bootleg copies of his show Iranian were smuggled into Iran (via Europe) in the 1980s. In 2007, Limonadi was getting thousands of virus-filled emails which he attributed to "Iranian government agents". Limonadi regularly appears on U.S.–based Iranian media such as Voice of America's Persian Television.
Book
Book
- One hundred years of struggle towards democracy in Iran (Ali Limonadi's interviews with politicians); Edited by Qasem Beykzadeh. Iranian Archive and Research Foundation, Los Angeles, 2013. (in Persian)
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Los Angeles
Named but not plotted · 1
Tehran.
Birth place
Films
• Der Deutsche, 1966 • Das Abonnement, 1967
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Bagherpour, Amir. The Iranian Diaspora in America: 30 Years in the Making. Frontline. PBS, KQED. September 12, 2010.
- 2.Barboza, Tony. Iranians in U.S. weigh the price of activism. Los Angeles Times. 2007-09-16. 2165-1736.
- 3.Akbarzadeh, P. An Interview with Ali Limonadi. Radio Zamaneh.
- 4.Naficy, Hamid. A Social History of Iranian Cinema, Volume 1: The Artisanal Era, 1897-1941. Duke University Press. lvii. 2011-09-16. 978-0-8223-4775-0.
- 5.Naficy, Hamid. The Making of Exile Cultures: Iranian Television in Los Angeles. U of Minnesota Press. 1993-01-01. 978-0-8166-2084-5.
- 6.During, Simon. The Cultural Studies Reader. Psychology Press. 553. 1999. 978-0-415-13754-6.
- 7.Parks, Lisa. Planet TV: A Global Television Reader. NYU Press. 383. 2003. 978-0-8147-6692-7.
- 8.Persian tv weekly highlights 4/9. VOA. 9 April 2007.
- 9.O'Brien, Mary-Elizabeth. Post-wall German Cinema and National History: Utopianism and Dissent. Camden House. 183. 2012. 978-1-57113-522-3.
- 10.على, ليمونادى،. Talāsh-i ṣad sālah-i millat-i Īrān. LOC. Bunyād-i Pizhūhish va Ārshīv-i Īrāniyān. 2013. 9781467553674.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
- Naficy, Hamid. The Making of Exile Cultures: Iranian Television in Los Angeles. University of Minnesota Press. 1993. 9780816620845.
References
Citations
References
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 21 August 2026.
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