Esmael Barari; born in 1965 in the Caspian Sea

Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...

 port of Bandar Anzali is an Iranian filmmaker, film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, screenwriter

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

, film editor and film producer

Film producer

A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

.
He is director of World Iranian Film Centerhttp://www.wifc.org and a member of The Union of Iranian Cinema Producers and a member of international jury of Mostra Valencia Film Festival-2007 http://www.mostravalencia.org/index.php?destino=Jurados.

Film career

Esmael Barari graduated in filmmaking from Art University. In 1988, his short film, REACTION, won top prize at the first National Students Film Festival of Tehran and the silver plaque at the 1989 Ebensee Festival of Nations. His other short films are NADER'S GIFT (1989) and LONELINESS AND THE CLOD (1990) which was presented in FIPA Cannes-91

Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels

The International Festival of Audiovisual Programmes , founded in 1987 by Michel Mitrani , was first held in Cannes in October 1987....

 and received The Golden Butterfly for the Best Film at 5th International Festival of Film and Video for Children and Young Adults. Up to now he has made more than twenty feature, documentary and short films & TV series.

Cinematic Style

Barari is part of a generation of filmmakers in the Modern Iranian Cinema, a Persian cinema movement that started in the 1980s and includes pioneering directors such as Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Mohsen Makhmalbaf is an Iranian film director, writer, editor, and producer. During 2007 he was the president of Asian Film Academy.Makhmalbaf's films have been widely presented in international film festivals in the past ten years. The multi-award-winning director, belongs to the new wave...

, Amir Naderi

Amir Naderi

Amir Naderi is a notable Iranian film director, screenwriter and one of the most influential figures of 20th-century Persian cinema. Mr Naderi is currently in Japan working on CUT, his new feature film, starring Hidetoshi Nishijima and Takako Tokiwa, due to be released in 2011.Naderi developed his...

, Abolfazl Jalili

Abolfazl Jalili

Abolfazl Jalili is an internationally acclaimed Iranian film director. He belongs to Iranian new wave movement.Jalili studied directing at the Iranian College of Dramatic Arts, then worked for national television where he produced several children's films. His 'Det' Means Girl won prizes in...

, Jafar Panahi

Jafar Panahi

Jafar Panahi is an Iranian filmmaker and is one of the most influential filmmakers in the Iranian New Wave movement. He has gained recognition from film theorists and critics worldwide and received numerous awards including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Silver Bear at the...

, Bahman Ghobadi

Bahman Ghobadi

Bahman Ghobadi is an Iranian film director of Kurdish ethnicity. He was born on February 1, 1969 in Baneh, Kurdistan Province. Ghobadi belongs to the so called "new wave" of Iranian cinema.-Biography:...

, Rakhshan Bani-E'temad and Majid Majidi

Majid Majidi

Majid Majidi is an internationally and critically acclaimed Iranian film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Majidi's films have touched on many themes and genres and he has won many international awards.-Biography:...

. The filmmakers share many common techniques including the use of poetic dialogue and allegorical storytelling dealing with political and philosophical issues with documentary style narrative films.
Barari's works are influenced by documentary filmmaker Morteza Avini

Morteza Avini

Sayyed Morteza Avini was an Iranian photographer of the Iran-Iraq war.Avini was born in 1947 in Rey, south of Tehran...

 and narrative film director Abbas Kiarostami

Abbas Kiarostami

Abbas Kiarostami is an internationally acclaimed Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. An active filmmaker since 1970, Kiarostami has been involved in over forty films, including shorts and documentaries...

, Who has a reputation for using child protagonists, for documentary style narrative films, for stories that take place in rural villages, and for conversations that unfold inside cars, using stationary mounted cameras. He is also known for his use of contemporary Iranian poetry in the dialogue, titles, and themes of his films.
"Barari is the unvarnished offspring of Kiarostami and Hitchcock!"

Filmography

• City in the Hands of Children (1991)
• The Nest (1992,Banned)
• The Green Hell (1996)
• The Devil's Dance (2000)
• Dead Heat under the Shrubs (2004,Banned)
• Day of Rain (2007)
• Maryam's Report (2008,Banned)
• The Twelve Chairs (2011, Coming)

1988

• REACTION (short film)

- 1st National Students Film Festival, Tehran; won the top prize

- Fajr Film Festival, Tehran

1991

• LONELINESS AND THE CLOD (short film)

- 5th International Festival of Film and Video for Children and Young Adults, Tehran; Won The Golden Butterfly for the Best Film

- FIPA Cannes-91, France

• City in the Hands of Children

- Fajr Film Festival, Tehran

1992

• City in the Hands of Children

- 6th International Festival of Film and Video for Children and Young Adults, Isfahan

• The Nest

- Fajr Film Festival, Tehran

2004

• Dead Heat under the Shrubs

- 7th Brooklyn Int'l Film Festival

Brooklyn International Film Festival

The Brooklyn Film Festival ', prior to 2011 called the Brooklyn International Film Festival ' is an independent film festival held every June in Brooklyn, New York...

, USA-New York

- Cinema Paradise Film Festival, USA-Hawaii

- 12th Raindance Film Festival

Raindance Film Festival

Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates from various cities including: London, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin and Brussels...

, UK

- 6th Panorama, Greece-Thessaloniki

- 49th Valladolid Int'l Film Festival, Spain; Winner of Audience Award Best Film

- 7th Rehoboth Beach Independent film Festival, USA-Delaware

- 1st annual Turks & Caicos, USA

- 4th Anchorage Film Festival, USA-Alaska

- 4th Tiburon International Film Festival, USA

2005

• Dead Heat under the Shrubs

- Festival del Cine Pobre ,Cuba-Gibara

- Indianapolis International Film Festival

Indianapolis International Film Festival

-Mission & General Information:Founded in 2004, the Indianapolis International Film Festival seeks to create a shared experience by championing films that entertain, challenge and expand perspectives in Indianapolis and beyond...

, USA

2006

• Dead Heat under the Shrubs

- Int'l Fest. of Muslim Cinema"Golden Minbar"

Golden Minbar International Film Festival

Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema will be organized as an annual forum of cinematographers, and a place of regular meetings and an exchange of experience, of further cooperation, between filmmakers of Russia and the Muslim countries and the entire world...

, Russia-Kazan

2007

• Dead Heat under the Shrubs

- 9th Mumbai International Film Festival

Mumbai International Film Festival

Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films , is a festival organised in the city of Mumbai by the 'Film Division', Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India. It has been organised since 1990, and focuses on documentary, short and animation...

 ,India

• Day of Rain

- Roosta Film Festival, Tehran; Won the Golden Plaque for the best film

- 21st International Children Film Festival, Hamedan; Mentioned for religious content

- 1st Quran Film Festival, Tehran; Won the Khademin Quran Medal

- 25th International environmental film festival, Paris

External links

• World Iranian Film Center Official Website