Movie
Dariush Mehrjui and his wife buried in Iran
The Iranian film director Dariush Mehrjui and his wife Wahideh Mohammadifar were buried. photo
© Abdolvahed Mirzazadeh/Iranian Students’ News Agency, ISNA/AP/dpa
The Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui and his wife Wahideh Mohammadifar were found dead in their home near Tehran a few days ago. The couple was now buried.
The famous Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui and his wife Wahideh Mohammadifar have been buried in Iran. The artist couple was buried on Wednesday in Tehran’s Behesht-e Sahra Central Cemetery, the Isna news agency reported. The couple was killed in their villa near the capital Tehran last Saturday.
Hundreds of people flocked to the mourning event in the Iranian capital Tehran, eyewitnesses reported. Many famous personalities from the Iranian film scene took part. The chairwoman of the largest cinema association Iran’s Marsieh Borumand praised Mehrjui as an impressive director at the funeral ceremonies. “I can’t find the words to express this loss that happened in such a terrible way.”
According to a report in the newspaper “Shargh”, the daughter found her parents dead. Both were stabbed in the neck with a knife or a sharp object, the newspaper reported, citing police. Mehrjui was 83 years old, his wife 54 years old.
Iranians mourned the famous couple far beyond their borders. Mehrjui influenced Iranian cinema like no other. The filmmaker was one of the pioneers of the New Iranian Film, into which he introduced neorealism.
With his film “The Cow” from 1969, he won the audience award at the Venice Film Festival in 1971 and thus became internationally known in the scene. According to anecdotes, the film also convinced the then religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei after the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
A report by the newspaper “Etemad”, which the newspaper published with the news about the killing of the couple, also caused a stir. In a previously unpublished interview, Mohammadifar described having been threatened recently. The judiciary subsequently summoned two senior media representatives. According to media reports, ten suspects have been arrested so far.
In an excerpt from a documentary, the artist couple recently took a critical stance on social developments in Iran. “Take off your headscarf,” Mehrdschui said to his wife as they sat together in a park. At first Mohammadifar hesitates, then they walk hand in hand to a tree where they hang up their hijab. Since the protests in autumn 2022, more and more women in Iran have been ignoring the obligation to wear a headscarf.