Ebrahim Hatami-kia (Director )

He is the most acclaimed director of war movies in Iran. He started his career in the war genre in 1980s and his films attracted great attention. Being a creditable figure for political authorities, he complained about the situation of the Iranian cinema and called for more attention from officials during a meeting of Iranian directors with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. On the other hand, his films have been controversial since a decade ago. The controversy started with The Glass Agency, which was made concurrent with the election of Mohammad Khatami has president. Almost all political currents in those days either tried to bank on the film for publicity purposes or objected to it. However, it won most prizes from International Fajr Film Festival in 1977 and has been selected as one of the most favorite Iranian films of the past three decades along with Dariush Mehrjui’s Hamoon. After The Glass Agency, Hatami-kia changed his approach to war and his next movies protested to cultural conditions that prevailed after the end of war. In this way, his subsequent film, The Dead Wave, which was a free adaptation of Don Quixote, was first banned and then publicly screened after many scenes were cut out. Instead of focusing on war, Hatami-kia has concentrated on the post-war society and tells the story of former combatants who are not capable of adapting to new social conditions. He has also made Green Ring series for the television, which is still being screened and has nothing to do with war. Hatami-kia who has spent three years on that series, recently announced that his next movie will cast a group of young cinema stars. His remarks were warmly welcomed by many prominent actors and most of them indicated their readiness to appear in his film. However, he came under fire from certain quarters for his decision. Now, movie buffs are waiting for the new film whose story is allegedly a mosaic of several stories, which are processed in parallel.