Career
He started painting in his youth but as he had to do military services, he left the Fine Art School. After seven years he made his first short film “The Circle” while he was a runaway soldier. The film was chosen by the film critics at Cannes Festival in 1999.
Ever since he has dedicated himself to cinema full time and he is currently the pioneer of the alternative cinema in Iran.
His films has been widely selected at more than 300 international film festivals including: Cannes, Berlin, Rotterdam, Sundance, Locarno, Toronto, Tribeca, Busan and et cetera This is while four of his films are banned and the rest are not published in his motherland.
Currently he is discovering and improving young talents through his “Alternative Cinema Workshop”.His films include President Mir Qanbar (2005), Navel (2003) The Candidate (2001) and Fat Shaker (2013).
