Crystal Simorgh for Best Director

Crystal Simorgh for Best Director is an award presented annually by the Fajr International Film Festival held in Iran. It is given in honor of a film director who has exhibited outstanding directing.

Crystal Simorgh for Best Director
Current recipient (2024): Behrouz Afkhami
Country	Iran
Presented by	Fajr International Film Festival
First award	1984
Currently held by	Behrouz Afkhami for: The Morning of The Execution (2024)
Most wins	Majid Majidi (4 times)
Most nominations	Dariush Mehrjui (12 times)
Website	fajrfilmfestival.com

Winners and nominees

Table key

Winner

Winner of the Honorary Diploma

‡ Winner of the Crystal Simorgh for Best Film

Year	Director	Film	Ref.(s)
1983 1	Not awarded		[1]
1984 2	Khosrow Sinai[a][b]	The Inner Beast [fa]	[3][4]
1985 3	Yadollah Samadi[a][b]	The Man Who Knew Too Much [fa]	[5][6]
1986 4	Kianoush Ayari[a][b]	The Monster [fa]	[7][8]
1987 5	Abbas Kiarostami[b]	Where Is the Friend's Home?	[9][10]
	Nasser Taghvai	Captain Khorshid
	Dariush Mehrjui	The Lodgers
	Ebrahim Forouzesh	The Key
	Masoud Jafari Jozani	The Stony Lion [fa]
1988 6	Kianoush Ayari[b]	Beyond the Fire [fa]	[11][12]
	Pouran Derakhshandeh	Little Bird of Happiness
	Siamak Shayeghi	A Dowry for Robab [fa]
	Manouchehr Asgarinasab [fa]	The Awaiting Home [fa]
	Dariush Mehrjui	Shirak [fa]
1989 7	Mohsen Makhmalbaf	The Cyclist	[13][14]
	Mohsen Makhmalbaf	The Marriage of the Blessed
	Masoud Jafari Jozani	Eye of the Hurricane ‡
	Manouchehr Asgarinasab [fa]	Hey Joe
1990 8	Dariush Mehrjui	Hamoun	[15][16]
	Ebrahim Hatamikia	The Immigrant ‡
	Abbas Kiarostami	Close-Up
	Yadollah Samadi	Savalan [fa]
	Mohammad Motevaselani [fa]	The Seeker [fa]
1991 9	Varuzh Karim-Masihi	The Last Act [fa]	[17][18]
	Behrouz Afkhami	The Bride [fa]
	Yadollah Samadi	Apartment No.13 ‡
	Dariush Farhang	One Ticket, Two Movies! [fa]
1992 10	Rakhshan Bani-Etemad	Nargess	[19]
	Bahram Beyzai	Travellers [fa]
	Mohsen Makhmalbaf	Once Upon a Time, Cinema
	Alireza Davoodnejad	The Need [fa] ‡
	Mehdi Sabbaghzadeh [fa]	The Quiet Home [fa]
1993 11	Sirus Alvand	Once for Ever [fa]	[20][21]
	Ebrahim Hatamikia	From Karkheh to Rhein ‡
	Dariush Mehrjui	Sara
	Mohsen Makhmalbaf	Actor
1994 12	Mohammad Bozorgnia [fa]	Tanker War [fa]	[22][23]
	Ebrahim Hatamikia	The Green Ashes [fa]
	Hassan Hedayat [fa]	The Devil's Eye [fa]
	Jamal Shurjeh [fa]	The Epic of Majnun [fa]
	Hossein-Ali Layalestani [fa]	Zero Heights [fa]
1995 13	Dariush Mehrjui	Pari	[24][25]
	Shahram Assadi [fa]	The Fateful Day ‡
	Ahmad-Reza Darvish	Kimia [fa]
	Rakhshan Bani-Etemad	The Blue-Veiled [fa]
1996 14	Kiumars Pourahmad	Strange Sisters	[26][27]
	Majid Majidi	The Father ‡
	Rasoul Mollagholipour	Journey to Chazabeh
	Mohsen Makhmalbaf	Gabbeh
1997 15	Majid Majidi	Children of Heaven ‡	[28][29]
	Ahmad-Reza Darvish	Land of the Sun [fa]
	Dariush Mehrjui	Leila
	Parviz Shahbazi	The Traveller from the South [fa]
1998 16	Ebrahim Hatamikia	The Glass Agency ‡	[30]
	Farhad Mehranfar [fa]	The Tree of Life [fa]
	Dariush Mehrjui	The Pear Tree
	Rakhshan Bani-Etemad	The May Lady [fa]
	Mojtaba Ra'i [fa]	Birth of A Butterfly [fa]
1999 17	Rasoul Mollagholipour	Heeva [fa] ‡	[31][32]
	Ebrahim Hatamikia	The Red Ribbon
	Tahmineh Milani	Two Women
	Majid Majidi	The Color of Paradise
	Alireza Davoodnejad	Sweet Agony [fa]
2000 18	Bahman Farmanara	Smell of Camphor, Scent of Jasmine ‡	[33][34]
	Masoud Kimiai	Protest [fa]
	Dariush Mehrjui	The Mix
	Masoud Jafari Jozani	Maturity [fa]
	Reza Mirkarimi	The Child and the Soldier [fa]
2001 19	Majid Majidi	Baran ‡	[35][36]
	Homayoun Ass'adian [fa]	End of the Game [fa]
	Bahram Beyzai	Killing Mad Dogs
	Alireza Davoodnejad	Paradise for you [fa]
	Reza Mirkarimi	Under the Moonlight
2002 20	Rasul Sadr Ameli	I'm Taraneh, 15	[37][38]
	Nasser Taghvai	Unruled Paper
	Ebrahim Hatamikia	Low Heights
	Dariush Mehrjui	To Stay Alive
	Alireza Raisian [fa]	The Deserted Station
	Nasser Refaei [fa]	The Exam [fa]
2003 21	Reza Mirkarimi	Here, A Shining Light [fa]	[39]
	Kamal Tabrizi	Look at the Sky Sometimes [fa]
	Parviz Shahbazi	Deep Breath
	Asghar Farhadi	Dancing in the Dust
	Ahmad-Reza Mo'tamedi [fa]	The Insane Flew Away [fa] ‡
2004 22	Ahmad-Reza Darvish	Duel	[40][41]
	Dariush Mehrjui	Mum's Guest ‡
	Asghar Farhadi	The Beautiful City
	Sirus Alvand	The Winning Card [fa]
	Mohammad-Mehdi Asgarpour [fa]	Ghadamgah [fa]
2005 23	Majid Majidi	The Willow Tree	[42][43]
	Mohammad Bozorgnia [fa]	A Place to Live [fa]
	Reza Mirkarimi	So Close, So Far ‡
	Kambuzia Partovi	Café Transit
	Parviz Sheikhtadi [fa]	Behind the Curtain of Fog [fa]
	Bijan Mirbagheri [fa]	We Are All Fine [fa]
2006 24	Asghar Farhadi	Fireworks Wednesday	[44][45]
	Ebrahim Hatamikia	In the Name of the Father ‡
	Abolhassan Davoudi [fa]	The Incident [fa]
	Khosrow Ma'sumi [fa]	Somewhere Far Away [fa]
	Mona Zandi Haghighi	Friday Evening [fa]
2007 25	Mohammad-Hossein Latifi [fa]	The Third Day ‡	[46]
	Amir-Shahab Razavian	Colors of Memory
	Kiumars Pourahmad	The Night Bus
	Mohammad-Mehdi Asgarpour [fa]	Eghlima [fa]
	Bahram Tavakoli	Barefoot in Paradise [fa]
2008 26	Majid Majidi	The Song of Sparrows	[47]
	Khosrow Ma'sumi [fa]	Wind Blows in the Meadow [fa]
	Reza Mirkarimi	As Simple as That ‡
	Mohammad-Ali Talebi [fa]	The Wall [fa]
2009 27	Asghar Farhadi	About Elly	[48][49]
	Abdolreza Kahani	Twenty [fa]
	Hassan Fathi	The Postman Doesn't Knock 3 Times [fa]
	Varuzh Karim-Masihi	Doubt ‡
	Tahmineh Milani	Superstar
	Bahram Beyzai	When We're All Asleep [fa]
2010 28	Ebrahim Hatamikia	In Amethyst Color ‡	[50]
	Alireza Amini [fa]	Seven Minutes to Fall [fa]
	Alireza Raisian [fa]	Forty Years Old
	Homayoun Ass'adian [fa]	Gold and Copper
	Shahriar Bahrani	The Kingdom of Solomon
	Shahram Assadi [fa]	The Fateful Night [fa]
2011 29	Asghar Farhadi	A Separation	[51][52]
	Masoud Kimiai	Crime [fa] ‡
	Dariush Mehrjui	Beloved Sky
	Ahmad-Reza Mo'tamedi [fa]	Alzheimer
	Mohammad Bozorgnia [fa]	The Maritime Silk Road
2012 30	Parviz Sheikhtadi [fa]	Days of Life [fa]	[53]
	Dariush Mehrjui	Orange Suit
	Mohammad-Ali Bashe-Ahangar	The Queen
	Homayoun Ass'adian [fa]	Kissing the Moon-Like Face [fa]
	Mani Haghighi	Modest Reception
2013 31	Parviz Shahbazi	Trapped	[54][55]
	Alireza Davoodnejad	Actors Studio [fa]
	Behnam Behzadi	Bending the Rules
	Behrouz Shoeibi [fa]	The Corridor
	Ali Ghafari [fa]	Give Back [fa] ‡
2014 32	Ahmad-Reza Darvish	Hussein Who Said No ‡	[56][57]
	Hamid Nematollah [fa]	Hard Makeup [fa]
	Behrouz Afkhami	Azar, Shahdokht, Parviz and Others [fa] ‡
	Ebrahim Hatamikia	Che
	Mohammad-Mehdi Asgarpour [fa]	We Have A Guest [fa]
2015 33	Abolhassan Davoudi [fa]	Crazy Rook ‡	[58][59]
	Bahram Tavakoli	I Am Diego Maradona
	Farzad Motamen	The Long Farewell [fa]
	Alireza Raisian [fa]	Time to Love [fa]
	Mostafa Kiayee [fa]	Ice Age [fa]
	Abdolhassan Barzideh [fa]	Mazar Sharif [fa]
2016 34	Saeed Roustayi	Life and a Day	[60][61]
	Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian	Standing in the Dust ‡
	Reza Mirkarimi	Daughter
	Kamal Tabrizi	Mina's Choice [fa]
	Farzad Motamen	When Did You See Sahar Last Time? [fa]
2017 35	Vahid Jalilvand	No Date, No Signature	[62]
	Alireza Davoodnejad	Ferrari [fa]
	Ebrahim Irajzad [fa]	Searing Summer [fa]
	Pouran Derakhshandeh	Under the Smokey Roof [fa]
	Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian	Midday Adventures ‡
	Rambod Javan	Negar
2018 36	Bahram Tavakoli	The Lost Strait ‡	[63]
	Ebrahim Hatamikia	Damascus Time
	Behrouz Shoeibi [fa]	Axing [fa]
	Mohammad-Ali Bashe-Ahangar	Under Water Cypress [fa]
	Kambuzia Partovi	Truck [fa]
	Houman Seyyedi	Sheeple [fa]
2019 37	Narges Abyar	When the Moon Was Full ‡	[64]
	Nima Javidi	The Warden
	Bahram Tavakoli	Gholamreza Takhti
	Saeed Roustayi	Just 6.5
	Reza Mirkarimi	Castle of Dreams
	Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian	Midday Adventures: Trace of Blood
2020 38	Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian	Walnut Tree	[65]
	Saeid Malekan	Day Zero
	Niki Karimi	Atabai
	Morteza Farshbaf	Tooman
	Majid Majidi	The Sun ‡
	Mohammad Kart	Butterfly Stroke
2021 39	Mehdi Jafari	Yadoo [fa] ‡	[66]
	Narges Abyar	Piebald
	Arsalan Amiri	Zalava
	Mohsen Gharaie	Without Everything
2022 40	Reza Mirkarimi	The Night Guardian	[67]
	Hadi Hejazifar	The Situation of Mehdi
	Amir Hossein Asgari	The Last Snow
	Kazem Daneshi	Grassland
	Behrouz Shoeibi	No Prior Appointment
2023 41	Mohammad Ali Bashe Ahangar	Metropol Cinema	[68]
	Hossein Mirzamohammadi	The Leather Jacket Man
	Mohammad Asgari	Mud Room
	Hadi Mohammadian Behnoud Nekouie Mohammad-Javad Jannati	Smart Kid
	Babak Khajeh Pasha	In the Arms of the Tree
	Hamid Zargarnejad	Number Ten
	Mohammad-Hossien Latifi	The Stranger
2024 42	Behrouz Afkhami	The Morning of The Execution	[69]
	Ali Saghafi	Parviz Khan
	Masoud Jafari Jozani	Paradise of Criminals
	Mehdi Shamohammadi	Majnoon
	Javad Ezzati	Aligator Blood
	Mahmoud Kalari	Summer Time

Most wins and nominations

Most nominations^[a]

Nominations	Director
12	Dariush Mehrjui
10	Ebrahim Hatamikia
8	Reza Mirkarimi
7	Majid Majidi
5	Mohsen Makhmalbaf
	Asghar Farhadi
	Alireza Davoodnejad
4	Ahmad-Reza Darvish
	Bahram Tavakoli
	Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian
	Masoud Jafari Jozani
3	Yadollah Samadi
	Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
	Bahram Beyzai
	Mohammad Bozorgnia [fa]
	Homayoun Ass'adian [fa]
	Parviz Shahbazi
	Mohammad-Mehdi Asgarpour [fa]
	Alireza Raisian [fa]
	Behrouz Shoeibi [fa]
	Behrouz Afkhami

Most wins

Wins	Director
4	Majid Majidi
3	Ebrahim Hatamikia
	Asghar Farhadi
2	Dariush Mehrjui
	Reza Mirkarimi
	Ahmad Reza Darvish
	Kianoush Ayari

Notes

1. Nominations for 1983–1986 are not available.
2. Crystal Simorgh statuette awarded from 7th FIFF on 1989.^[2]