Biography of Hamidreza Hafezi
Personal Information:
Full Name: Hamidreza Hafezi
Date of Birth: 1964
Gender: Male
Communication Channels:
Email Address: hafezi . hamid 20 @ yahoo. com
Social Media:
Education:
University Education: Graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Production from the IRIB University (First rank in Animation Directing, 1988), Second-degree Artistic Badge in Screenwriting from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance (equivalent to a Master’s degree in Screenwriting, 2015)
Specialization:
Specialization in Age Group: Toddlers, children, and young people. Job Titles: Ideator, cinema and television screenwriter, script consultant, head of writers, film and series expert, cinema and television instructor, writer and director of live-action and animated narrative films.
Background and Activities:
Work Experience: Film director for twenty years in IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) _ Television activities in genres: Comedy, children and young people _ Writing and directing short narrative films, series, and telefilms. Three decades of independent and collaborative screenwriting experience for cinema and television (a total of 100 short, feature, and serial narrative scripts for television and 10 feature film scripts produced or assigned to film offices), independent writer of over 1500 minutes of narrative animation in short, feature, serial, and theatrical formats including; the television animation series “The Barrel” (a loose adaptation of the novel of the same name by Houshang Moradi Kermani _ Selected for the competition section of the 51st Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2011) and the short animation “The Alchemist” (Best animation film at the Hamedan International Film Festivals for Children and Young People, Tehran Animation, Roshd Film, and Digital Media festivals, and nominated for Best Screenplay from the 14th Cinema Celebration of Iran, and inclusion of a lesson titled “The Alchemist” in the 6th-grade primary school textbook “Thinking and Research”, along with film screening and discussion on its theme), permanent writer of advertising scripts for Soroush Multimedia Company in 2001-2002 and ten years of collaboration with private advertising companies, twenty years of activity in IRIB as a film director, writing and directing children and young people’s narrative films from 1986 to the present and significant presence of works in film festivals, including telefilms; The Legend of the Carpet City, Mahrokh, Memories of Tomorrow, That Night’s Train (a loose adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ahmad Akbarpour _ Selected by the Roshd International Film Festival and Kowsar Film Festival, 2007) and television series; Little Detective, Nobody and short films; Paper Bird, In Search of the Lost Piece, Familiar Sound, Peacock, Grade Twenty and The Game is Over. Engaged in: Expert of the Film and Series Council of the General Directorate of Planning and Provision for Provincial IRIB from 2005 to 2011 and also animation planning expert from 2015 to the present, expert of the organization’s Animation Specialized Committee from 2009 to 2014, member of selection and jury boards for Iran Cinema Celebration, Jam-e-Jam, National Iranian Television Animation Festival, IRIB University Student Film, Chehel Cheraq, Soura, and Young Cinema Society. Publications: Image Aesthetics in Cinema and Television “Published by the Research Center and General Directorate of Education of IRIB 2016
Honors and Inventions:
Honors and Awards: First rank in Animation Directing at IRIB University _ Golden Butterfly for Best Feature Animation Screenplay in 2014 from the Isfahan International Film Festival for Children and Young People for the film “The Legend of the Carpet City” (a work that also shone in other festivals and won the award for Best Director of a Feature Animation Film). Award for Best 16mm Narrative Film from the Young Cinema Society for the film “Paper Bird” in 1988, a work that was also screened in the student film section of Iran and Belgium at the 11th Isfahan International Film Festival for Children and Young People. Certificate of Honor from the 1st Soura Video Festival for the short narrative film “The Game is Over”. Award for Best Director and Screenplay from the Television Productions Festival for the television series “Little Detective”, a work that also received the Certificate of Honor for Directing from the Roshd International Film Festival. Winning the Golden Butterfly for Best Feature Animation Screenplay from the Isfahan International Film Festival for Children and Young People for the animation telefilm “The Legend of the Carpet City” as well as the award for Best Director of a Feature Animation Film from the Provincial Centers Television Productions Festival, are among his awards in filmmaking. Hamidreza Hafezi with the short script “F for Fish” in 1988 was selected in the Fajr Cultural and Artistic Competitions of Fars Province, the following year with the script “You Only Live Once” won the scriptwriting competition award of the Isfahan Traffic Organization, in 1991 he won the first place in the scenario writing competition of Bank S صادرات Iran and two years later with the script “Today, Tomorrow and the Day After” won the grand scriptwriting competition of the Social Security Organization. Shortly after, his short script titled “Shaghayeq” won the visual and auditory scriptwriting competition award of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, until by writing the feature cinematic script “Bibi’s Dowry” and winning the Best Screenwriter award from the Iranian Cinema Directors Guild (headed by jury chairman Ali Hatami) he marked a successful start for himself in cinema and from that same year of 1994 he became a member of the Iranian Cinema Screenwriters Guild. “Bibi’s Dowry” was a successful comedy that received good reception from the public and critics. Later, the feature animated film “Seven Colors”, selected for the competition section of the 24th Fajr International Film Festival, brought him the award for Best Animation Screenplay at the 14th Centers Productions Festival, and he also registered a nomination for the Golden Butterfly for Best Screenplay from the Hamedan International Film Festival for Children and Young People in his record. In 2007, during the ceremony honoring and appreciating veterans and activists of Iranian cinema and theater, organized by the Art and Cultural Guild of Shiraz University, he received a plaque of appreciation. A year later with the comedic feature cinematic script “Layla and Majnun” (assigned to cinema producer Ali Ashtianipour) he won the Top Screenwriter Festival of the General Directorate of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Tehran Province. In subsequent years, he continued writing in the comedy genre as his most important cinematic activity, and among his recent works are “Tehran, The Pleasant Land!” selected for the script competition section of the City International Film Festival, “Elson and Velson, Bring the Guests” selected for the scriptwriting competition section of the International Film Festival for Children and Young People and the theatrical animation “Dream Thief”. A children’s comedy made with the participation of Iran and Italy directed by Ravanbakhsh Sadeghi and currently undergoing pre-production stages. Inventions and Innovations: Film analysis is definitely a complex process, but the educational workshops of “Film Analysis; Shot by Shot” taught by Hamidreza Hafezi by employing a creative method and tangibly explaining the most fundamental criteria of film analysis, teach the secrets of this profession well to trainees. In these workshops, cinematic works are closely examined from the perspective of text (theme, character, narrative, and structure), decoupage, mise-en-scene (image composition, camera movements, actors’ states and movements, set and costume design, light and color), editing, and sound, paying special attention to the aesthetic aspects of the images in each shot analysis and explaining step-by-step image elements and their dynamic relationships. The educational method he uses, utilizing scientific-artistic principles and presenting criteria for understanding and judging films as well as avoiding personal tastes, is considered a rare method. He has a special expertise in “Film Language Analysis” and has so far closely examined the works of great cinema directors; Hitchcock, Polanski, Welles, Spielberg, Darabont, Fincher, Besson, Angelopoulos, Kieślowski, Tykwer, Cuarón, Schlesinger, Scott, Howard, Demy, Coppola, Nolan, and the Wachowskis from the perspective of text, decoupage, mise-en-scene, editing, and sound.
Courses:
Courses Passed: Specialized Pitching Workshop of the 33rd Fajr International Film Festival and receiving consultation from workshop instructor Ms. Gen Miller (international pitching master) for the idea of the feature cinematic script “Romances” selected from the workshop call. Courses You Can Teach: Screenwriting, directing, and image aesthetics (in both live-action and animation fields), comedy writing, writing and performing stand-up comedy, ideation and creative writing, storyboard, film and series analysis, film analysis; shot by shot. Three decades of experience teaching screenwriting and directing in reputable public and private institutes, IRIB University instructor from 2004 to the present, teaching at Soore University for six years, expert and instructor at the IRIB Training Center from 2005 to the present, and designing specialized courses and holding over 100 educational workshops across Iran.