Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui and wife killed in stabbing attack — The famed director of ‘The Cow’ and ‘The Pear Tree’ was stabbed to death at his home in Iran, according to local media reports
by marketrent
Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui and wife killed in stabbing attack — The famed director of ‘The Cow’ and ‘The Pear Tree’ was stabbed to death at his home in Iran, according to local media reports
by marketrent
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Iranian auteur Dariush Mehrjui and his wife were killed at the couple’s home near Tehran:^1
>The official IRNA news agency quoted Hossein Fazeli, a judiciary official, as saying that Mehrjhi and his wife, Vahideh Mohammadifar, were discovered dead at their home with knife wounds in their necks.
>Like most Iranian directors, Mehrjui fought state censorship his entire career, but he was one of the more outspoken critics of Tehran’s Islamic regime.
>Last year, he posted a video blasting the government for the suppression of his last, now likely final, feature, *A Minor*.
>Iran’s state media news agency IRNA said authorities were investigating the killings but did not speculate on a possible motive.
Per NYT:^2
>Mr. Mehrjui, 83, who is considered one of the pioneers of Iranian cinema’s new wave movement, and his wife, Vahideh Mohammadifar, 54, a screenwriter and costume designer, were found dead by their daughter when she came to the family house in Karaj, in Alborz Province, on Saturday night, according to Hanif Soroori, Mr. Mehrjui’s assistant. Their throats had been slit, he said.
>Mr. Mehrjui’s close studies of contemporary life in Iran have inspired a generation of filmmakers. One of his best-known films, “The Cow” (1969), depicting a poor farmer’s love for his cow and his anguish after its death, was produced with funding from the shah of Iran but promptly banned for its stark portrayal of rural life.
>In the months leading up to the 1979 revolution, Mr. Mehrjui filmed the revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then in exile in France, who proved to be a valuable ally once he came into power.
^1 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/iranian-director-dariush-mehrjui-killed-in-stabbing-attack-1235618816/
^2 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/15/world/middleeast/dariush-mehrjui-iran-filmmaker-killed.html
That’s cause he gave his nephew his favorite ring…