What age is Jafar Panahi?

Iranian film director, Jafar Panahi is 62 years old.

Jafar Panahi birthday

When does Jafar Panahi celebrate his birthday? What is Jafar Panahi’s birthday? Jafar Panahi celebrates his birthday every July 11.

Born in Mianeh, East Azerbaijan, Imperial State of Iran, Jafar Panahi started his career in a very unusual way. He produced his first documentary shown on TV about his capture by Kurdish rebels in 1981.

At 20 years old, he served in the Iranian Army and was involved in the Iran-Iraq War as a Cinematographer for the Iranian Army from 1980 to 1982. He was captured by the rebels and used inspiration from that to develop a documentary.

When he left the military, he attended the College of Cinema and TV in Tehran. Before graduating in 1988, he worked as an assistant director on his Professor’s film.

Panahi made his debut short film dubbed The Wounded Heads (Yarali Bashlar) during that period. It was about the illegal mourning tradition of head slashing in the Azerbaijan region of northern.

He also made numerous short documentary films for Iranian television through the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting’s Channel 2.

In 1992, he made his first narrative short film titled The Friend (Doust), a homage to The Bread and Alley, the first short film of Kiarostami. He went on to make his second short film, The Final Exam (Akharin Emtehan). The two films won Best Cinematography and Best Editing at Iran’s National TV Festival (1992).

Panahi made his first-ever complete film in 1995, The White Balloon (Badkonak-e-sefid). It was produced by IRIB-Channel 2. The movie won four prizes at the Isfahan Film Festival for Children and Young Adults and the Fajr International Film Festival.

In 1997, he released a feature film titled The Mirror produced by Rooz Films. The Circle was also released in 2000, produced and directed by him. He also directed the 2003 film Crimson Gold, as well as Offside in 2006.

In 2009, a travel ban and filmmaking ban were imposed on him by the government of the Islamic Republic for “making propaganda against the system.”

He was sentenced and banned in a Tehran court in October 2011, and placed on house arrest. Since then, he was not allowed to move freely and walk around until he was reportedly freed on April 25, 2023.