Morteza Atabaki began his studies in graphic design at the School of Art. After graduating, he started working as a stage design assistant alongside Ali Rafiei, one of Iran’s most prominent theatre directors, and spent around five years gaining experience under his mentorship.
In 2005, he began working in theatre photography and poster design. During this period, he photographed and designed posters for more than one hundred theatre productions and received several awards from major theatre festivals in Iran. In 2010, he served as the artistic director and designer of the International Fajr Theatre Festival.
In 2011, he began collaborating with Abbas Kiarostami, working as an assistant on several of his photography and exhibition projects while also participating in his masterclasses.
In 2013, Morteza moved to Turkey and continued his work in film photography and behind-the-scenes documentary filmmaking. One of his most notable works from this period is a six-hour documentary about the making of The Wild Pear Tree, directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
His first short documentary film, Alien (2017), received the Jury Prize at the Leipzig Film Festival.
From 2019 to 2025, he worked as a photographer and behind-the-scenes documentary filmmaker in collaboration with Netflix.
His first feature documentary, 32 Meters is his first feature documentary.