TEHRAN – Ebrahim Hatamikia, director of the acclaimed movie “Damascus Time”, was picked as the Islamic Revolution Artist of the Year on Monday.

He was honored for his “Damascus Time” about the atrocities of Daesh and received the award for the title from the director of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization (IIDO), Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Qomi, and Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Seyyed Abbas Salehi, at the Sureh Hall of the Art Bureau.

“This is a precious moment of which I’m proud,” Hatamikia said after accepting the award.

“My career in filmmaking spanning four decades is as long as the life of the revolution, and as much as I remember I had my ups and downs as a filmmaker,” he added.

He asked the new generation of the revolutionary filmmakers not to get discouraged by criticisms and said, “We must remain steadfast, because the revolution is still at the beginning of its way at its fortieth anniversary.”

Writers Reza Amirkhani and Hedayatollah Behbudi, documentarian Mehdi Naqavian and graphic designer Masud Nejabati were other nominees for the title. 

The Islamic Revolution Artist of the Year is selected every year by IIDO Art Bureau on the closing day of the Islamic Revolution Art Week, which was established to commemorate the martyrdom anniversary of Avini who was killed by a landmine in 1993 during his last trip to the former Iran-Iraq war zone in southwestern Iran while making a documentary about soldiers who were still listed as missing in action.

Photo: Filmmaker Ebrahim Hatamikia speaks after being honored as the Islamic Revolution Artist of the Year at Sureh Hall in Tehran on April 15, 2019. (Mehr/Hamid Vakili)

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