Death of Morteza Avini

Date: April 9, 1993 • Location: FatholMobin, Iran, Islamic Republic of

Iranian filmmaker Morteza Avini was killed by a land mine in Fakkeh while producing a documentary.

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 on how bassijis, a paramilitary volunteer militia within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, 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 (martyr) 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.