
Camera
Mahmoud Kalari
Born 1951-04-30 · Tehran, Iran
Mahmoud Kalari (Persian: محمود کلاری; born in Tehran) is an Iranian cinematographer, screenwriter, film director, and photographer who has worked with number of renowned Iranian directors such as Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi, Asghar Farhadi, and Mohsen Makhmalbaf. After completing photography courses in the United States, he held his first photo exhibition titled "Visit with People Around Us" at Tehran University in 1976. A few years later he was employed by the Paris-based Sigma Photo News Agency and worked for them for four years. In 1980, he was ranked one of the '15 Best Photographers of the Year' by Time Magazine, and his photos could be seen in French, German, and American magazines. Kalari moved back to Iran and from 1982 to 1984 worked as the supervisor of the Tehran National TV Photography Unit. Kalari started his film career in 1984 as the cinematographer of Jadehay sard[1] (1985) (Frosty Roads) for which he won the Best Cinematography award at Tehran's Fajr International Film Festival. He has shot more than 65 films since then, including some of the most critically acclaimed and talked about movies in Iran and internationally. Among those are: Sorb[2] (1988) (winner of the best cinematography), Reyhaneh[3] (1995) (screened at San Sebastián International Film Festival), Time of Love (1990) (filmed in Turkey and screened at the Cannes Film Festival), From Karkheh to Rein (1990) (filmed in Germany and screened at the Hamburg and Mannheim Film Festivals), Sara (1992) (screened at the San Sebastián, New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago Film Festivals), Salaam Cinema (1995) (screened at the Montréal, Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, and Cannes Film Festivals), Gabbeh (1996) (screened at Cannes, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles and 21 other International Film Festivals around the world, winner of Best Cinematography at Fajr International Film Festival and winner of Fujifilm Motion Picture Award), Leila (1997) (screened at 7 international film festivals and the winner of the best cinematography at Fajr Film Festival), Derakhte Golabi[4] (1998) (winner of Silver Hugo at Chicago Film Festival and chosen as the Best Motion Picture Photography by the international jury of the Fajr Film Festival), The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) for which Kalari received nominations for Best Cinematography in the Main Competition of Plus CAMEIMAGE International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, and Offside (2006) (screened at the Berlin, New York, and AFI Film Festivals). Kalari's directorial debut was Abe-O Aftaab (1997) on which he was also the writer and cinematographer. It was screened at the Montreal and Chicago Film Festivals and won the Best Film award at Argentina's Mardel Plata Film Festival.
Acting credits
6.6It’s 1988 and, at the height of the Iran-Iraq War, Tehran is bombed relentlessly. The days that pass are full of foreboding, and yet, love, affection, hope and life itself manage to sweep away the fear of death from those surrounded by it. Love may often be difficult to comprehend, but death is a horrible certitude. ‘Bomb, A Love Story’ shows how, even when faced with the darkness of death, love and hope will find a way.
Bomb: A Love Story
2018
Tracing the history and influence of Iranian cinema and its filmmakers.
Cinema Iran
2005
NRMehrjui: The Forty-Year Report dives into the artistic world of Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui. The film offers critical interpretations of his works from cinema experts, enriched with personal anecdotes from his peers.
Mehrjui: The Forty-Year Report
2016
NRAhmad is a psychiatrist, believing in the treatment of the soul with the medicine in a positivistic and laboratorial way. But when his wife goes missing, he gets involved in his own delusions. Trying hard to find a trace of her, he goes to all of his friends. He desperately tries to act as a very democratic person, giving priority to his wife’s joy and pleasures. He is even willing to show that he would be happy if his wife marries one of his friends since he thinks the other one would be able to make her happier. But it seems that she’s notified that the matter of her happiness is absolutely not dependent on a “man”. Thus he sees that all his scientific beliefs are collapsed…
Odyssey of Solitude
2022
NRDocumentary about Film magazine. Film (Persian: فیلم) is an Iranian film review magazine published for more than 40 years (founded in 1982).
Cahiers du Film
2016
NRThis documentary looks at different aspects of the life of Bahman Farmanara, the well known Iranian film director and producer.
Being Farmanara
2006
6.6A political allegory on four middle-class guys who pile into their car for a ski weekend. A brief stop at a picturesque vista leads to their chance discovery of a prominent rock formation it seems would be oh so easy to tip over, but...
Men at Work
2006
Behind the camera
9.0For his directorial and writing debut, cinematographer Mahmoud Kalari turns to his most familiar subject: filmmaking. A small crew from Tehran is filming in the countryside. Just when they are ready to shoot the final scene, the weather refuses to cooperate. As if that’s not enough of a problem, the lead actor suddenly abandons the shoot to attend to a family emergency. How far will the filmmakers go to accomplish their mission? Having worked on dozens of productions as a cinematographer, Kalari reflects on the absurd and comical situations that befall filmmakers in this charming picture (on which he also served as cinematographer).
Cloud and the Rising Sun
1997
4.07-year-old Atta is taken to a fortune teller to identify the thief of her aunt's gold during a ceremony. Atta, who has no idea of the outcome of what she utters in that situation, to get out of that situation, tells everything from her aunt's definitions about Dawood, her other cousin.
Summertime
2025
4.07-year-old Atta is taken to a fortune teller to identify the thief of her aunt's gold during a ceremony. Atta, who has no idea of the outcome of what she utters in that situation, to get out of that situation, tells everything from her aunt's definitions about Dawood, her other cousin.
Summertime
2025