page_title: Morteza Avini
section_title: Artistic work
hierarchical_section_title: Morteza Avini / Artistic work
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a handwriting by Morteza Avini which reads: "We hold the illusion that we've stayed but the martyrs have passed. But the truth is that time has taken us away with itself, but the martyrs have stayed."
context_page_description: Sayyid Morteza Avini was an Iranian documentary filmmaker, author, and theoretician of "Islamic Cinema." He studied Architecture at Tehran University in 1965.
  During the Iranian Revolution, Avini started his artistic career as a director of documentary films, and is considered a prominent war filmmaker. He made over 80 films on the Iran–Iraq War. According to Agnes Devictor, Avini invented original cinematography methods, depicting the esoteric side of the Iran–Iraq War in terms of Shia mystical thought. Most of his work was devoted to reflecting how bassijis perceived the war and their role in it. His most famous work is the documentary series Ravayat-e Fath, which was filmed during the Iran–Iraq War. He was killed by a landmine explosion in 1993, while filming. He was described as a Shahid after his death, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared him "the master of martyred literati". The 20th day of Farvardin is entitled the day of "Islamic Revolution art" in his honor.
context_section_description: According to Agnes Devictor, a professor at the Sorbonne who specializes in Iranian cinema, Avini chose to participate in the Iranian Revolution by making documentary films, instead of entering politics as many of his colleagues did, and which he was capable of doing. Afterwards, he joined the television team of Construction Jihad. His film-making has been described as having an ideological goal. He was the head of Jihad Television Unit, a documentary film unit co-sponsored both by IRIB channel 1 and Construction Jihad. According to Avini, his position was "suspended" between the two institutions, and if not for that, none of the films would have been created. Avini made over 80 films on the Iran–Iraq War, and is considered a major contributor to the documentation of the war. During the war and in particular the battle of Khorramshahr, Avini decided to record the events and make promotional films.
caption: Avini's signed handwriting which reading "We hold the illusion that we've have stayed but the martyrs have passed. But the truth is that time has taken us away with itself, but the martyrs have stayed."
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