Fajr Film Festival honors actor Kasebi

The 35th edition of the Fajr International Film Festival has paid tribute to veteran Iranian actor Mohammad Kasebi.

The event honored the 67-year-old actor during the opening ceremony held in Tehran on Saturday, January 28.

Born in 1951, Kasebi graduated in Cinema Acting and Directing from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts at Tehran University.

He began his career with stage acting while he was only 13 years old.

In 1991, he was nominated for the Fajr International Film Festival’s Crystal Simorgh Best Male Actor award for his role in 'Badook' (1991).

Four years later, he received a Crystal Simorgh and Malaysia’s East Asia Film and Television Festival Best Actor Award for his role in 'Father' (1995).

From 1982 to 2008, he has appeared in several movies, including 'Eternal Repentance', 'The Calls', 'Boycott', 'The Crisis', 'The Refugee', 'Attack on H-3', 'The Moon and the Sun', 'Slivers of the Sun', 'The World Upside-Down', 'Saint Mary', 'Dear, I'm In No Mood', 'The Foreign Doll', 'The Wall', and 'Ominous Seed'.

He has also acted in series such as 'Rana', 'Sweet Ride', 'Until Morning', 'The Spiritualists', 'Three by Four', 'Let's Not Turn Around', 'The Occupiers', 'Stepmother', 'Three Shares Each', and 'Dementia'.

Kasebi is also the founder of the Play Department of National Radio, the founder of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance’s Center for Performance Arts, and the authority in charge of the Play Division and Township Affairs of the Artistic Center.

He has some directing experience in 1987 and 1989 as well.

Fajr festivals are held annually to commemorate Iran's late Islamic revolutionary leader Imam Khomeini' return from exile in 1979 and the fall of monarchy in Iran.

Before 1995, only Iranian movies took part at the festival, but organizer decided to admit movies made abroad and hold it as an international event.

MG/RSH