Dariush Mehrjui, a distinguished Iranian filmmaker, was killed in his house close to Tehran on Saturday alongside together with his spouse, based on the police.
Mr. Mehrjui, 83, who is taken into account one of many pioneers of Iranian cinema’s new wave motion, and his spouse, Vahideh Mohammadifar, 54, a screenwriter and costume designer, had been discovered useless by their daughter when she got here to the household home in Karaj, in Alborz Province, on Saturday night time, based on Hanif Soroori, Mr. Mehrjui’s assistant. Their throats had been slit, he mentioned.
Hamid Hadavand, the Alborz police chief, mentioned in an interview with the Iranian pupil information company ISNA {that a} motive for the killings remained unknown. In response to a put up on the Tasnim Information Company, some gold objects appeared to have been stolen.
Mr. Mehrjui’s shut research of up to date life in Iran have impressed a technology of filmmakers. Certainly one of his best-known movies, “The Cow” (1969), depicting a poor farmer’s love for his cow and his anguish after its loss of life, was produced with funding from the shah of Iran however promptly banned for its stark portrayal of rural life. Within the months main as much as the 1979 revolution, Mr. Mehrjui filmed the revolutionary chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then in exile in France, who proved to be a worthwhile ally as soon as he got here into energy.
After the revolution, Mr. Mehrjui’s movies centered round stylish middle- and upper-class characters in Tehran as they mentioned faith, artwork and cash. In one in all his most consequential movies, “Hamoun,” a middle-aged mental experiences a psychological breakdown as his marriage unravels.
Mr. Soroori, reached on the crime scene, mentioned that the door had been pressured in. The home is in a gated neighborhood however is considerably remoted, he mentioned, and no witnesses had up to now come ahead.
Mr. Mehrjui was not thought-about politically controversial. It was not clear if he had any private enemies. The authorities mentioned an investigation was underway.
Tiffany Could contributed reporting.
