Mahmoud Kalari’s Week in Yerevan: Jury Work, a Masterclass and Life’s Performance
Yerevan, 12-19 July 2026 | Souzian Dispatch reports on Mahmoud Kalari's Golden Apricot week, including jury duty, a cinematography masterclass, Life's Performance and the Parajanov's Thaler.
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Mahmoud Kalari had several roles during the 23rd Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival. Alongside his work as president of the Regional Competition jury, the Iranian cinematographer took part in GAIFF Pro’s cinematography programme, presented a photography exhibition in Yerevan and was honoured at the festival’s closing ceremony.
Chairing the Regional Competition
Kalari chaired the Regional Competition jury alongside musician Ibrahim Maalouf, producer Dominique Welinski, and filmmakers Pieter-Jan De Pue and Christine Haroutounian.
The jury awarded the Golden Apricot to Iranian filmmaker Amir Azizi’s Inside Amir. Alexandre Koberidze’s Dry Leaf received the Silver Apricot and also won the FIPRESCI Prize.
Talking Cinematography at Cinema House
Kalari also joined the DoPing Cinematography Workshops, part of the 2026 GAIFF Pro programme organised in partnership with the Armenian Cinematographers’ Guild.
The programme brought cinematographers including Kalari, Bruno Delbonnel and Seamus McGarvey to Cinema House for workshops and masterclasses. Golden Apricot describes Kalari as a former award-winning photographer who has shot more than 65 feature films and worked with filmmakers including Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi, Asghar Farhadi and Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
During his masterclass, Kalari spoke about his early years in photography and reflected on working with Kiarostami and Farhadi. He discussed the different methods of the two directors and how the cinematographer’s role changes according to the filmmaker and the needs of each project.
The DoPing Cinematography Workshops were held at Cinema House from 15 to 17 July 2026.
From Photography to Iranian Cinema
Photography came before cinematography in Kalari’s career and remained part of his work long before he became known internationally as a cinematographer.
Over several decades, his cinematography has become closely connected with different generations of Iranian filmmakers. Among his credits are Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us, Panahi’s Offside, Dariush Mehrjui’s Leila and Farhadi’s A Separation. His work on A Separation received the Silver Frog at Camerimage in 2011.
In 2018, the Museum of Modern Art in New York presented The Eye of Iran: Cinematographer Mahmoud Kalari, a programme of 12 films by ten directors, including Kalari himself. The retrospective looked at his work across several periods of contemporary Iranian cinema.
Life’s Performance
On 19 July, Mahmoud Kalari opened his photography exhibition Life’s Performance at 32 Hanrapetutyan Street in Yerevan.
The exhibition presents photographs he made in Iran during the 1970s. The images were printed by Mahmoud Kalari himself and are being shown in the former Persian Consulate building as part of Golden Apricot and Rambalkoshe’s musæum project.
The exhibition opened at 14:00 on 19 July and remains on view through 26 July.
The photographs offer a view of Kalari’s work before the feature films that later made his name familiar to international cinema audiences.
Parajanov’s Thaler at the Closing Ceremony
Mahmoud Kalari was also honoured during Golden Apricot’s closing ceremony on 19 July, receiving the festival’s Parajanov’s Thaler. His award was presented after a week in which he had chaired the Regional Competition jury and taken part in the festival’s cinematography programme.
The Parajanov’s Thaler is one of Golden Apricot’s honorary awards, presented for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema. Its name and design come directly from the story of Armenian filmmaker Sergei Parajanov.
In 1976, while imprisoned, Parajanov carved figures with his fingernails into the aluminium lids of milk bottles and called them “thalers”. The original pieces are now kept at the Sergei Parajanov Museum in Yerevan, while the festival award is a silver reproduction of one of those coins.
Golden Apricot concluded on 19 July, while Kalari’s photography exhibition Life’s Performance remains open in Yerevan through 26 July.
- Abbas Souzian, Yerevan
- Photo credits: Mojtaba Mortazavi