In the mid-1960s, Taghvai entered the world of cinema through documentary filmmaking. His early documentaries displayed a remarkable sensitivity to human behavior and the social textures of Iranian life. Rather than focusing on spectacle or grand narratives, he concentrated on small gestures, conversations, and the silent spaces between people. This attention to everyday life became his signature. By the time he directed his first feature film,
Tranquility in the Presence of Others, he had already developed a mature voice that fused poetic introspection with social observation.
