TEHRAN -- The sixth Sun Award was presented to Iranian filmmaker, editor, researcher and educator Ahmad Zabeti Jahromi at a ceremony held at the Museum of Cinema of Iran in Tehran on Thursday, honoring more than five decades of his work in cinema, particularly documentary filmmaking and education.
The ceremony brought together cinema officials, filmmakers, artists, documentary practitioners and former students of Zabeti Jahromi. 
Hamed Shakibania, who hosted the event, said the occasion marked more than 50 years of the recipient’s continuous and influential activity and provided an opportunity to preserve his contribution to Iranian cinema.
Excerpts from Zabeti Jahromi’s documentary work were screened during the ceremony, alongside messages from colleagues and former students unable to attend.
Morteza Razagh Karimi, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sun Award, was the first speaker. 
Referring to his longstanding familiarity with Zabeti Jahromi’s work, he said the filmmaker’s contribution could not be reduced to his films, books or years of teaching. One of his most important contributions, he said, had been the development of a discourse around documentary cinema.
Razagh Karimi said Zabeti Jahromi had approached documentary not simply as a visual product, but through questions concerning its nature, forms, structure, language and relationship with reality. 

He also highlighted the connection in his work between practical experience and theoretical knowledge, spanning research, editing, filmmaking, writing, translation and teaching.
Documentary researcher and filmmaker Muhammad Tahaminejad recalled the position of documentary cinema in Iran during the 1970s, when the form remained largely marginal within Iranian cinema. He emphasized Zabeti Jahromi’s role in bringing documentary theory, classification, research, history and aesthetics into specialist education.
Esfandiar Habibnejad, who first met Zabeti Jahromi as a student in 1984, recalled how their relationship developed beyond that of teacher and student. “I did not learn only editing and filmmaking from him; I also learned lessons about ethics and life,” he said.
Documentary filmmaker Mehdi Zamanpour Kiasari described Zabeti Jahromi as not only a teacher of cinema but an “architect of living,” while filmmaker Ramin Heidari-Farouqi spoke of his enduring “restlessness for knowledge.” He compared editing to “playing the music of cinema” and read a text inspired by his years as a student.
A message from Hussein Zare’zadeh, director of the Documentary Network of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), was also read during the ceremony. Zare’zadeh described Zabeti Jahromi as an outstanding teacher of documentary filmmaking and editing and as an example of ethics and humanity.
Receiving the award, Zabeti Jahromi recalled a saying from his father: “Whatever you become, be of use to people.” He told students and younger filmmakers to believe in their abilities but to remain committed to whatever path they choose.
“I am 75 years old and have been pursuing cinema for 55 years,” he said, adding that cinema was not an easy field but that conditions should be created in which artists could continue to create.
Zabeti Jahromi also described documentary filmmaking as one of the most effective ways to learn the different aspects of cinema. Addressing students uncertain about which area of cinema to pursue, he said those seeking a broader understanding of cinematic techniques and aesthetics should choose documentary.
“My pride is not the awards and honors I have received, nor the films I have made, nor the books and articles I have written or translated,” he said. “My pride is those whom I have taught, trained and prepared for Iranian cinema.”