Born in Tehran in 1953, Iraj Karimi graduated from the Poly-Techniques College in mechanical engineering, and began making short films in 1981. From 1984, he began to collaborate with the press as film critic, and translated books on cinema. Also, he is the author of the book Abbas Kiarostami, the Realist Filmmaker. His translations include the books Jancso's Cinema, Understanding Movies and the film script Rocco and His Brothers. He also wrote a script titled "The Old Pencil" which Abolhassan Davoudi turned into the film The Extraordinary Journey. Going By is Karimi's first directorial venture in feature films.