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About Me

MOKHTAR NAMDAR

namdarmokhtar@gmail.com

Filmmaker - Director of Photography - Film Editor - Photographer

Mokhtar Namdar, born in 1981, is an award-winning filmmaker from Iran. Born and raised in Tehran, he is dedicated to socially conscious documentary filmmaking. Mokhtar Namdar gained his first professional experience as a filmmaker during his mandatory military service working as a cameraman and editor for Iran’s Army Television. He enrolled at the Iran Broadcasting University, but soon found the film program limiting and spent the next seven years assisting directors and cinematographers.

His first documentary film – The Story of Gil and Galesh – won multiple awards across Iran. He has since directed ten more documentaries. A House in Fog was screened at international film festivals – including Hot Docs and DokFilm – and won multiple awards in Germany, Canada, Portugal, Romania, Hungary, Afghanistan, Czech Republic, Serbia, and Russia. He has recently finished three documentary films. Rupture focuses on one man’s attempt to start a new life after losing almost all family members in a devastating earthquake in Kermanshah. A little death is needed for life accompanies a family in Northern Iran that struggles with cancer and drug addiction. Shirud takes a look at a polluted river, its damaging consequences for the entire ecosystem of Northern Iran and for the local fishing industry, while revealing the network of corruption that perpetuates this situation. His current project revolves around a young woman’s struggle to establish an independent women’s theatre company in Iran.

Since 2020, Mokhtar Namdar is based in Hamburg (Germany).

Freelance Filmmaker

Social Documentary

Rupture (42min, 2021)

Shirud (75min, 2020)

Where the sun shines vertically(62min, 2020)  

A Little Death is Needed for Life (27min, 2019)

The Culture Means (57min, 2018)

The Rule of the Jungle (40min, 2015)

Hemmat Days (30min, 2014)

Farhad narrated by Aeesh (30min, 2013)

A House in Fog (22min, 2013)

The Story of Gil and Galesh (30min, 2009)

Photo Exhibition

Decopho – Exhibition of Decorative PhotosMaks Gallery, Tehran, 2018

Prizes, Awards, Nominations

A House in Fog

Special Prize of Jury and Best Film at International Festival of National and Ethnic Cinema (Russia), 2016

Grand Prize at Do Pão Festival (Portugal), 2016

Grand Prize at Sarm Documentary Film Festival (Serbia), 2015

Nomination for Best Film and Best Director at Khaneh Cinema (Iran), 2014

Special Prize of Jury at Hasanat Film Festival of Isfahan, 2013

Best Cinematography and Nomination for Best Research and Best Film at the Iranian Television Films Festival, 2012

The Rule of the Jungle

Nomination for Best Film at Documentary Film Festival of Iranian Television’s Documentary Channel, 2018

The Story of Gil and Galesh

Best Documentary at the Apple Film Festival (Iran) 2011

Budget Award at Intern. Haghighat Cinema Festival, 2010

Screenings at Festivals

The Culture Means

International Haghighat Cinema Festival (Iran), 2017

Calcutta International Film Festival (India) 2019

The Rule of the Jungle

Exground Filmfest (Germany), 2016

A House in Fog

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, 2015 

Fourth Iranian Film Festival (Czech Republic), 2015

Third Afghanistan    International Women’s Film Festival, 2015 

Sarm Film Festival (Serbia), 2015         

ALTER-NATIVE Intern. Short Film Festival (Romania), 2015     

Intern. Festival of National and Ethnic Cinema (Russia), 2015   

Kazan International Film Fest (Russia), 2015     

DOK Film Festival (Germany), 2014     

Khaneh Cinema (Iran), 2014

International Haghighat Cinema Festival (Iran), 2012

he Story of Gil and Galesh 

Khaneh Cinema (Iran), 2010

International Haghighat Cinema Festival (Iran), 2009

Andere Screenings

The Rule of the Jungle

Social Justice Film Series, American University in Cairo, 2019

Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, 2019, followed by Q&A

Assistant Director/ Filmmaker

(selection)

Wind and Fog (2009, dir. Mohammad Ali Talebi)

Quiet Street (2010, dir. Kamal Tabrizi)

Saturday Report (2013, dir. Ali Mohammad Ghasemi), winner of Best Film at Avini Festival, Iran

Dogs and Fools (2017, dir. Ali Mohammad Ghasemi), winner of Best Director at 11th Annual Iranian Film Festival San Francisco

Production Manager

(selection)

Saturday Report (2013), dir. Ali Mohammad Ghasemi

Rooster (2007), dir. Ida Panahandeh, winner of Best Short Film at Tehran International Short Film Festival

Director of Photography

(selection)

The Culture Means

(2018, dir. Mokhtar Namdar)

Karun Dam 3 (2015, dir. Majid Afzali)

Hemmat Days (2014, dir. Mokhtar Namdar)

The Summer Wild River (2013, dir. Marjan Kabevafa)

Dream Job (2013, dir. Ali Khosravi)

Waterdrop turns into Sea (2011, dir. Mohamad Kouroshnia)

Euphrate Riverside (2011, dir. Yousef Bachari)

Film Editor

(selection)

Girls Who Love Their Fathers (2013, dir. Farhad Soraya)

Third Office Personnel (2018, dir. Iman Goodarzi)

Beyond the Stone of Existence (2018, dir. Zahra Khatibi)

Professional Affiliations

Tehran Documentary Film Directors Association Iranian Documentary Filmmakers Association