TEHRAN -- Tehran Municipality’s Art and Culture Organization and the Shahr Image Development Institute honored Iranian screenwriter and filmmaker Kambozia Partovi during a ceremony held at Tehran’s Honar Cultural Center on Wednesday.

“My works are the end product of Partovi’s writing,” said director Rasul Sadr-Ameli whose Sadr-Ameli’s films “I Saw Your Daddy Last Night, Aida” and “I Taraneh am 15” were based on his screenplays. “Individuals like Partovi have been a great merit to Iranian cinema over the past 30 years. We all remember how exciting it was when he produced ‘Golnar’. He played a key role in the development of children’s films in Iran and his later shift in filmmaking harmed that genre,” After his debut film “The Fish” in 1988, Partovi’s next films were “Golnar” and “The Singing Cat”, both children’s musicals. Afterwards he shifted towards productions for older audiences. His latest film “Border Café”, featuring the complexities of the life of an Iranian widow, was selected to represent Iranian cinema in the category of Best Foreign Language Film at the 79th Annual Academy Awards in 2007. “The film is an atypical production of Iranian cinema and even differs from his previous films,” Sadr-Ameli said. Director Alireza Raisian, whose film “The Deserted Station” (2002) was written in a collaborative effort by Partovi and Abbas Kiarostami, participated in the ceremony. “Partovi embodies a complex mixture of artistic abilities. Few people are able to create fantasy screenplays for children along with bitter stories like ‘The Circle’… I hope he writes more screenplays instead of making films,” Raisian said. “His collaboration with filmmakers has led to the production of some of Iran’s most acclaimed movies. This superstar of Iranian screenwriters has always offered top works for audiences,” said Farhad Towhidi, director of the Center for Iranian Screenwriters. During the ceremony there was a screening of “The Images of the Words”, a documentary on Partovi directed by Mehdi Naderi. “All of the commendations that I have received from my friends in this ceremony should have been given to Iranian cinema,” Partovi said after he had been presented with a lifetime achievement award. “I consider myself as part of this cinema and I’m happy to have received attention.” he added