The event will inaugurate the ‘Razavi Culture Era’ series, a program dedicated to recognizing distinguished figures and influential personalities in the fields of culture and the arts associated with pilgrimage.

The inaugural gathering will honor Majidi, one of Iran’s most celebrated filmmakers, whose acclaimed body of work has earned recognition at both national and international levels. He is also the creator of ‘Reza-ye Rezvan’, a documentary with religious and devotional themes.

Majidi is among the Iranian artists who have consistently devoted their craft to expressing religious identity and sacred teachings. Most recently, at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea, he used the international platform to speak out about the suffering of children in Minab amid the US-Israeli war of aggression, presenting their plight as a symbol of the hardships endured by the Iranian people.

The filmmaker’s appearance in Busan drew attention to the civilian toll of the US-Israeli war imposed on Iran, as he denounced the deaths and destruction affecting ordinary families and called on the international community to confront the human consequences of the conflict.

Majidi’s latest feature, ‘Midday Meal’, also emerged as one of the notable entries at the 2026 Busan festival. The film tells the story of a contract schoolteacher in an impoverished village in southeastern Iran who struggles to keep his classroom open after the financial support that provides meals for his pupils suddenly disappears. As hunger drives children away from school, the teacher faces an increasingly difficult choice between securing his own future and helping the vulnerable families who depend on him.

Speaking in Busan, Majidi said he had initially been reluctant to attend the festival because of the ongoing war and the emotional toll it had taken on him. He ultimately decided to travel to South Korea in the hope that his film could convey a message from the Iranian people to audiences around the world. He condemned the civilian casualties and damage to homes caused by the conflict, and highlighted the deaths of children in the US-Israeli bombing of an elementary school in Minab. Majidi stressed that the Iranian people would not bow to oppression and described them as courageous and dignified.

Throughout his career, Majidi has focused on the lives of children, impoverished families and people living on society’s margins, often using nonprofessional actors to portray their experiences with authenticity. His 1997 film ‘Children of Heaven’ became the first Iranian production to receive an Academy Award nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category. His other notable works include ‘The Color of Paradise’ (1999), ‘Baran’ (2001) and ‘Sun Children’ (2020), which competed at the Venice International Film Festival and brought its young star, Rouhollah Zamani, the Marcello Mastroianni Award.