SINGAPORE, Oct 1 — The 26th edition of the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) will pay tribute to a director from a country we don’t usually get to hear about vis-a-vis the film scene: Iran.

The SGIFF will confer acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf with an honorary award in recognition of his lifelong dedication and contribution to cinemaember. The festival will also include a retrospective of his works as part of its line-up.

Makhmalbaf gained worldwide recognition for “his powerful use of film as both a cultural statement and an educative art form”, said organisers in a press statement.

“Makhmalbaf’s films have been a regular feature in the history of SGIFF, with Gabbeh opening the festival in 1997, and Kandahar in 2002,” said SGIFF executive director, Yuni Hadi,

“His unyielding efforts in conveying the untold stories of a region through film, in honest and profound ways, are unmatched,” she added. “We celebrate and pay tribute to his perseverance, fervour and conviction as both artist and advocate, and strongly believe that he will inspire future generations of filmmakers to continue telling our Asian story.”

Born in 1957 in Tehran, the self-taught director has churned out more than 20 feature films since 1983. Makhmalbaf was shot by the police and jailed for five years. Upon his release, Makhmalbaf turned to cinema as a non-violent form of activism. Together with his contemporaries such as Majid Majidi, Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi, he helped kickstart a second wave of Iranian cinema.

In 1997, he founded the Makhmalbaf Film House, a film school and production house with a pedagogy that extends beyond the disciplinary confines of cinema. This year, he was awarded the Robert Bresson Award at the 2015 Venice Film Festival.

The SGIFF Honorary Award will be presented at the SGIFF Silver Screen Awards at Marina Bay Sands on December 5. As part of SGIFF’s Tribute segment, there will be a special showcase of Makhmalbaf’s works, such as his latest feature, The President (2014), about the life of a dictator and his six-year-old grandson as they flee from revolutionaries; and award-winning films “The Cyclist” (1987), “Salam Cinema” (1994), “Gabbeh” (1995) and “A Moment of Innocence” (1995).

The festival will also organise a series of talks, with Makhmalbaf holding a masterclass to share his personal experiences in filmmaking and his constant attempts to reinvent its form. (This masterclass will be preceded by a screening of the documentary, “Daddy’s School,” by Hassan Solhjoo, about Makhmalbaf and his family’s film school.)

The 26th edition of SGIFF will run from November 26 to December 6, take place across various venues, including Marina Bay Sands, the National Museum of Singapore, Shaw Theatres Lido, National Gallery Singapore, The Arts House, The Projector and The Substation. Ticket sales for the SGIFF will start at the end of the month. — TODAY