Independent vision. Cinematic craft.Toronto · Worldwide
Cinematography · Selected moments
Morteza
Hodaei.
Stories shaped
by light.
Director of Photography · Director
01 / Biography
Light is everything.
What could be more dreamlike than a profession built around playing with light?
For Morteza Hodaei, light is not only a technical element; it is the soul of the image. It can reveal, hide, wound, heal, and transform a moment into cinema.
Born in Tehran, Morteza began his career in cinema in 1998 as a cameraman on short films. Over more than two decades, he has worked across feature films, television series, documentaries, commercials, and large-scale multi-camera productions. His cinematography combines emotional realism with carefully controlled visual atmosphere, searching for the point where story, character, movement, and light become one.
Member of CSCMember of Asia PacificIranian Society of CinematographersShort Film Association
25+Years of experience
1998First years in cinema
TorontoCanada based
02 / Selected Work
Feature films and major credits.
Beginnings
Early years behind the camera
On Set
Camera, movement, light
2026 · Documentary Drama
The Court
of History
A legal docudrama about transitional justice and the difficult questions a society faces when confronting a legacy of state violence. Through a fictional trial grounded in international fair-trial standards, the film examines the boundaries between justice, punishment, revenge and forgiveness.
Executive ProducerMorteza Hodaei
Director of PhotographyMorteza Hodaei
DirectorJamshid Barzegar
Written bySaeid Dehghan · Jamshid Barzegar
03 / Directing
Selected directing work.
Short Film
Band Bazi
A short film written and directed by Morteza Hodaei.
Writer & DirectorMorteza Hodaei
CastFarzad Bagheri, Amir Safiri, Keyvan Saketouf, Diba Saman, Mehdi Miri
Director of PhotographyHomayoun Ghorbani
Sound RecordistMehrad Abolghasemi
Edited byEmad Khodabakhsh
Assistant DirectorAlireza Langroudi
04 / Documentary
The 7TH Head
Current Documentary Project
The 7TH Head
A documentary project exploring memory, migration, pressure, freedom, and the emotional cost of living under dictatorship. The film moves between personal experience and collective history, using cinema as a way to hold grief, resistance, and the possibility of renewal in the same frame.
05 / Awards & Festivals
Cinema travels through light, memory, and recognition.
Shanghai International Film Festival
With Nuri Bilge Ceylan at the closing ceremony. A featured festival moment placed here as a key career image.
06 / Gallery
Behind the camera.
Cinematography Reel
Morteza’s Showreel
Contact
Let’s create cinematic images.
mortezahodaei@gmail.comIMDb ProfileWikipedia Profile
Morteza Hodaei — Director of Photography / Director / Documentary Filmmaker. Based in Toronto, Canada.