The Ancient Trees , is a beautifully and masterfully written, produced, and directed series by young and talented Iranian filmmaker Hamid Koreyli.
The The Ancient Trees series is a successful effort to introduce and comprehensively and expertly review the exceptionally-old trees of Iran along with providing unseen pictures and detailed history and information.
This collection is produced in the form of a documentary series in six approximately fifty-minute episodes, each episode is focused on the introduction of one of Iran’s tree species.
In order to introduce these trees, a trip was made to the habitat of each tree and–while showing its pictures, all the information including the location and exact geographical coordinates, growth and habitat conditions, biological characteristics of the tree, its natural and national values, possible damages and threats–the cultural position of each tree is presented. Explanations by professors and researchers in this field, narration, interviews with natives about the historical and cultural background of the trees in question, and presentation of 3D graphs as they are very effective tools for introducing and examining each tree and each species. The most prominent researchers and professors of this field from Iran’s Forestry and Rangeland Research Institute and Tehran University have collaborated with this series as experts.
The research phase of the films started four years ago and after explaining the main topics, finding the best old species of Iran, monitoring, categorizing, and studying the most reliable books and related articles, consulting with prominent professors in this field, carefully examining a detailed list of nearly 1500 old trees in all different parts of Iran–finally the selection the superior species and representative trees of each species was carried out. With the coordination and supervision of scientific advisors, the project has been reviewed, edited and corrected several times. Engineer Mostafa Khoshnavis, the most experienced and renowned expert on old trees in Iran, is the senior consultant of this series.
The narrator and co-producer of the documentary is Shahab Hosseini who is well-known for his leading actor roles in Oscar-winning movies called A Separation and The Salesman.
Awards:
■ Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor at Cannes Film Festival (2016)
■ Silver Bear for Best Actor at Berlin International Film Festival (2011)
■ French National Order of the Legion of Honor (2020)