Born in 1951 in Mashad, Mehdi Sabbaghzadeh started experimental flimmaking in 1971. He made a number of 8mm pictures at the Free Cinema Group before directing his first feature in 1980, "The Liegemen". He has directed a number of popular features, his most recent being "Way of Heaven" (2012) which competed in the 30th Fajr International Film Festival and received the Special Jury Award.
