Sayyid Dawud Mirbaqiri

Dāvūd Mīrbāqirī
Birth name	Sayyid Muḥammad Dāvūd Mīrbāqirī
Born	May 29, 1958 Shahrud
Nationality	Iranian
Awards	Omri ba Qur'an Festival • Ammar Film Festival • Razavi Film Festival • Jame Jam TV Festival

Sayyid Dāwūd Mīrbāqirī (Persian: سید داوود میرباقری; b. 1958) is a director and screenwriter in the religious field and the creator of historical-religious series.

Filmmaker of History of Islam and Shi'ism

Dawud Mirbaqiri behind the scenes of the series Mokhtarnameh (scene of the entry of Muslim b. Aqil into Kufa)

Dawud Mirbaqiri one of the filmmakers and screenwriters in the religious field, has written and directed numerous works on the topic of the history of Islam. Hi work has always been positively criticized by filmmakers and critics and received much praised for his eloquence in the field of dialogue writing. His critics have stated that Mirbaqiri correctly integrates history and art in his works.

Mirbaqiri believes that showing the faces of Imams and religious figures is religiously permissible (Shar'i) and would not cause a problem; however, due to certain considerations, he has always abstained from showing the faces of Shi'a Imams in his works and cited this issue as the reason for his reluctance to make a film about the life of Lady Khadija (a). In this regard, Mirbaqiri considers the film Mokhtarnameh better than the film Imam Ali (a); because in Mokhtarnameh, the work proceeds with a depictable character as the subject, whereas in the film Imam ʿAli, the main chartcter of the film is not shown in any sequence. According to him, history has only reported the turning points of events. Therefore, in his historical works, 30 percent is fidelity to history and 70 percent is the imagination and fiction of the writer and director.

Mirbaqiri has won several cultural and artistic awards in his artistic life. He was praised by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the then-President of Iran, for making the film Mokhtarnameh and was awarded the special statue of the Donyaye Tasvir Celebration. He has also been appreciated and honored in various festivals such as the "A Life with the Qur'an" conference, Ammar Film Festival, Razavi Film Festival, and Jame Jam TV Festival. He has also received the Medal of Honor for "Jihadist in the field of Culture and Art".

Life

Sayyid Muhammad Dawud Mirbaqiri, known as Dawud Mirbaqiri, was born on (9 Dhi l-Qada 1377/29 May 1958) in the village of Khij in Shahrud. Mirbaqiri began his education in his native village and went to the Seminary of Shahrud at the age of 11. At the age of 13 he returned to academic education and stayed in Shahrud until receiving his diploma. He entered the University of Tehran in the field of Mining Engineering and began his artistic activity in (1400/1980) after passing a three-year theater training course at "City Theater" (Tear-yi Shahr).

Mirbaqiri joined the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) in (1402/1982). He experienced cinema for the first time by writing and directing the film "Adam Barfi" (The Snowman). One of his most important TV series is the Imam ʿAli series, which was produced between (1411/1991) and (1417/1996), depicting the life of Imam Ali (a) in the years leading up to his caliphate and his martyrdom. His other famous series was Mokhtarnameh, which dealt with the history of the character Mukhtar al-Thaqafi. After completing the production of Mokhtarnameh, Mirbaqiri began the production of the Salman the Persian series centering on the life of Salman Farsi in (Rabi as Thani 1441/December 2019.

Mirbaqiri has directed or written various films and plays on social and historical subjects. The Imam ʿAli series was his first major religious series, for which he was responsible for writing and directing. Later, he directed the movie The Traveller of Rey and the TV series Ma'sumiyyat-yi az Dast Rafta (Lost Innocence). Mokhtarnameh and Salman Farsi have been the latest works of this director on religious subjects.