Photographer, Documentary Filmmaker, Graphic Designer
Born in Iran in 1981
Morteza moved to the city of Tehran after graduating in Graphic Design from the Aveenee Academy of Visual Arts in city of Arak.
He was the assistant to Dr.Ali Rafie for the stage productions of “Shazdeh Ehtejab”, “Kolfatha” or (The Maids) and “Dar Messr Barf Nemibarad” or (It does not snow in Egypt) as well as the production of the movie called “Mahiha Ashegh mishavand” or (The Fish fall in love).
In 2013, he directed and produced his first long documentary titled “ Khaterat and Kaboos-haye natamam” or (The unfinished memories and nightmares) which was about the life and works of Dr.Ali Rafie as a renowned and distinguished Iranian artist.
Morteza also assisted Abbas Kiarostami with two photography projects and completed a three-month course in Video Art under his supervision.
During his career, Morteza actively pursued his Poster Designing activities and designed over one hundred posters for theatre, cinema, and artistic events. He has been awarded many distinguished prizes such as the First Prize for designing posters in the 28th Fajr International Theater Festival, and the Second Prize in the same category of the same Festival the following year.
He has participated in reputable biennial festivals such as “Poster Tehran” and “ Poster Bolivia” as well as taking part in the Festival of Sofia Theatre Posters of Bulgaria. There are just to name a few of his professional achievements.
Morteza Atabaki is one of the Founder Members of the Society of the Theatre Poster Designers of Iran, and as one of his notable functions, he became the Artistic Director of the 29th International Festival of Fadjr Theater and the 5th International Musical Festival of Fadjr.
During the years 2005 to 2013 Atabaki photographed over one hundred theatrical productions in Iran and 2010 was nominated as the highest achieving theatre photographer of Iran.
In 2013, he immigrated to Turkey where he got involved in Cinema-photography and the production of movies behind the scenes. To date, he has been producing over 40 movies and television serials as a photographer or cinematographer. The most famous of which was the “Wild pear tree” which was Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
Atabaki’s second documentary, Alien, has been screened in over twenty International Festivals and has collected the Judges’ Prize at the International Film Festival of Leipzig.
This short documentary was also the winner of the Audience’s Prize for best documentary at the Italian Festival of Handicraft film