TEHRAN -- Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) honored five veteran documentary filmmakers for their lifetime achievements during a ceremony on Monday.

Khosro Sinai, Hossein Torabi, Manuchehr Tayyab, Mohammad-Ali Farsi and Mohammadreza Aslani were in attendance at the event entitled “D for Documentary”.

In a new initiative, the honorees received their awards from Amir Tajik, the director of IRIB’s Mostanad (documentary) Channel, at their homes or offices while the presentations were recorded in separate videos that were screened during the ceremony.

“After 35 years of filmmaking, this is first time an IRIB director visited us at our offices,” Farsi said in the video and added “The move eased all the pain we suffered during our professional lives.”

“I believe that filmgoers have gained a deeper insight than filmmakers,” said Sinai.

“I was reminded of a lesson that cinema has taught me, and that is not to live a vacuous life, not even for a single moment,” he added.

IRIB also organized the ceremony to unveil a large collection of documentaries produced by the Iranian TV.

In an address, IRIB Managing Director Mohammad Sarafraz said that IRIB plans to support young documentarians to make their debut films.

He also announced IRIB’s plan to restore the various kinds of documentary films on Iranian TV.

Photo: Khosro Sinai (L) and Mohammadreza Aslani attend a ceremony that IRIB organized in Tehran on September 7, 2015 to honor the filmmakers and three other documentarians for their lifetime achievements. (Mehr/Hossein Esmaeili)

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