Morvarid
Reyes Talebzadeh

I've been making images since 2004 — narratives, documentaries, television, music videos, live productions across four continents. What drives me isn't the credits. It's that moment on set when the light does something you didn't plan, and suddenly the scene becomes something truer than what was written.

My first feature, Bangkok's Fear, was shot in Thailand on instinct and very little sleep. It taught me that preparation and surrender have to coexist, the film was praised for its cinematography at the Creative International Film Festival. On Guillotine, that same principle meant recreating five historical periods — 1700s France, wartime Iraq, post-war Germany, Algeria — all in Los Angeles, using three aspect ratios and both spherical and anamorphic glass. The constraint became the creativity.

I've had the privilege of being a small part of larger machines as Camera Operator and AC on projects like Narcos, Gemini Man, Mile 22, and Jack Ryan, working alongside directors like Ang Lee, Peter Berg, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Every one of those sets taught me something I couldn't have learned any other way. I was there to learn as much as to contribute. I have stood face-to-face with former sicarios filming Killing Escobar for BBC London, and spent months across Europe shooting high-stakes investigations for Drug Lords for Netflix and National Geographic.

In 2024, I received the Best Cinematography award at the New Filmmakers Los Angeles Film Festival — genuinely unexpected and quietly meaningful. The work continues to travel: BFI London, Seoul Guro, Glasgow, BIFF.

I also work in Broadcast & Live Production — cutting multi-camera shows in real time as a Vision Mixer and Broadcast Technician. There's a particular kind of discipline that comes from live television. No second takes. It sharpens everything.

I believe deeply that pre-production is where the real filmmaking happens. The look book, the lighting strategy, the shot list — these aren't bureaucratic exercises. They're where a director's vision gets a spine. I'd rather spend three extra days in prep than lose the scene on set.

I'm always looking for collaborators who care about the image as much as the story — and who understand that the two are inseparable. If you're building something with texture, risk, and a point of view, I'd love to hear about it.