Several movies screened at the Fajr Film Festival that marked the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran are found to have been funded by the Islamic Republic's notorious Intelligence Organizations, Radio Farda’s investigation has found.

In one of the latest cases of Iranian intelligence organization's increasing activities in the area of film production, the Intelligence Ministry has produced the movie "Zero Day" in Germany.

The crew that made the film partly in Berlin in January 2020 tried hard to keep their presence and activities in Germany secret. However, as some of the film crew sought political asylum in Germany, the secret spilled out into the public domain.

While the film was being screened at the festival in February, its director and executive producer Saeed Malekan said at a press conference that idea and plot for the film came from someone named Esfahani. He said it was based on the true story of how Iranian intelligence officers arrested an insurgent named Abdulmalek Rigi, a Baluch insurgent leader, by forcing the foreign airliner that was carrying him to a destination in Central Asia to land in Iran.

Three independent sources have told Radio Farda that the Intelligence Ministry provided information, documentations and funds to the film's producer. Meanwhile, Malekan confirmed that Esfahani, a former high-ranking intelligence officer, was with the film crew while the film was being shot, although he did not accompany the crew in the trip to Berlin.

Esfahani, whose real name is Morteza Ghobbeh, is still actively involved in filmmaking for Iran's intelligence organizations. He has also been involved in the production of a TV series directed by Feraydoun Jayrani as well as several movies including The Fox (directed by Behrouz Afkhami), Mina's Choice (Kamal Tabrizi), Bodyguard (Ebrahim Hatamikia), Potassium Cyanide (Behrouz Shoaibi) Midday Adventures 1 and 2 (Mohammad Hossein Mahdavian) and When the Moon Was Full (Nargess Abyar).

All of these movies propagate the Islamic Republic's official narrative about certain events such as espionage and the way the Islamic Republic treated the opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK). A search in the database of Iranian film industry revealed Esfahani was the screenwriter of over 30 mainly political movies during the past years.

His name also appears in the credits of movies made by renowned filmmaker Massoud Kimiaei. Despite his active involvement in the film industry Esfahani rarely speaks to the media.