I DO EVERYTHING TO CATCH A GLIMPSE OF MYSELF.
Ali Jalali
Documentary Cinematographer · Tehran
DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING
IS JUST HOW I'M GETTING THERE.
Hostages
I grew up in the shadow of 1979. This was the first time I looked it in the face. I shot the Iran unit for HBO's Emmy-winning series, interviewing Iranians who organized and carried out the 1979 US embassy seizure. Filmed at the former embassy and across Tehran. Shared cinematography credit with Wolfgang Held.
News & Documentary Emmy — Outstanding Historical Documentary
That access was built by the people on the ground: local producer Gelareh Kiazand, field producer Katayoun Arsanjani, and Sara Eslamiyeh, whose research and coordination opened the door.
The Dastgahs of
Persian Music
(Dastgāhāye Irani)
Some films you make. This one, you mostly just listen to. A documentary on Hossein Alizadeh's recording of the complete radif — the core repertoire of Persian classical music — sung by seven women and recorded almost entirely inside Iran, including passages that for generations had only ever been performed by men.
Featuring Zohreh Gholipour, Raheleh Barzegari, Saba Hosseini, Negar Gorjian, Samin Ghorbani, Nazanin Saveh, and Marjan Banaei · Sound by Parham Ghonche
Now no one has to imagine it.
COMEBACK
My first documentary. I didn't fully know what I was doing — and it earned nine international nominations and three awards. I gave myself one instruction: observe, enjoy, capture the moment. I stuck to it.
Written and directed by Reza Sayah
Work
MOMKEN MEANS POSSIBLE
I found the word in Hafez. It stayed with me for a year before I gave it to the work I'd found.
It started without a plan. I met an artist making khomrehs by hand.
I asked if I could film her while she worked.
And that was the first one.
MOMKEN
IS A PLAYGROUND
The only place I work without strings, without a fixed path.
Each time, you step into a life already in motion.
You can never be certain what you'll find, and you don't have to be.
That's the whole point.
A PERSON
A LIFE
ITS EFFORT
ITS HOPE
ITS LOVE
MOMKEN
seeks
creates
that person
the act of creation
for eyes to see
and souls to feel
I disappear behind the camera and watch. I'm not there to judge — I'm there to see. You don't know the film while you're shooting it — any moment can become the one it turns on. So I stay patient, from the first frame to the final cut. That patience is the whole craft. It keeps me curious, honest, and close to the people I film. It's how I work, and how I live.
If you have a story that needs to be lived before it's told, let's talk.
I'm available for documentary commissions, cinematography, and field work — in Iran, across the region, and internationally.
Worked with