The best directors in the history of Iranian cinema -Part 4-

Kamal Tabrizi

Notable Movies: Lily Is With Me, The Lizard

Tabrizi, born in Mehr 1338, is one of the filmmakers of the post-revolution generation. A graduate of cinema and television from the University of Arts, who was a student during the Islamic Revolution and one of the students of the Imam’s line who occupied the American embassy. He started filmmaking in 1367 with “Abor”.

Until 1372, when he made the movie “Laili Ba Man Is”, he was not a prominent filmmaker and did not make a significant film, but “Laili Ba Man Is”, which won the best screenplay award from the Fajr Festival, became a trendsetter. A movie in which the imposed war and its fighters joked for the first time. Kamal Tabrizi became a director who can cross the red line gracefully.

In 1382, he established his name as a controversial filmmaker by making the comedy “Lizard”. A film that even its production by Kamal Tabrizi could not insure and be pulled from cinemas very soon. The work of the film progressed to the point where it was shown to the National Security Council! “Lizard” was the last good movie by Kamal Tabrizi, who has several other notable works such as “Mother’s Seal”, “Shida” and “Farsh Bad” in his career. His last movie released in 2017 “We Are Together” was a complete disaster.


Nasser Taqwai

Important films: O Iran, Peace in the presence of others, paperless paper

Nasser Taqvai was born in July 1320 and it is a great regret for cinema lovers that Taqvai could not make a film in recent years and leave another lasting work in the history of Iranian cinema. He is one of the few directors of Iranian cinema who is so obsessed that every film he makes is preserved in terms of cinematic values.

In 1352, Taqvai along with Tazami, Mehrjooi, Nasiriyan, Manouchehr Anwar, Esfandiar Monfaredzadeh, Hatami, Kimiaei and several others formed the Association of Leading Cinematographers. Taqwai is one of those directors who has a love for literature. Before entering the cinema, he became famous by creating the masterpiece series “Uncle John Napoleon”, which was an adaptation of the novel by Iraj Meschitzad. His first feature film “Aramesh in the presence of others” was an adaptation of Gholamhossein Saedi’s story of the same name.

Another outstanding work of Taqvai’s career is the film “Nakhoda Khurshid”, one of the best films in the history of Iranian cinema, which is an adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s story “To have and not to have”, which Karstan has done in the localization and Iranianization of Taqvai. The story from which Howard Hawks adapted the famous movie “To have and not to have” and 24 magazines published a case on whether Hawks’s work is a better adaptation or a pious film.

The last work of piety is the film “Blank Paper” about the crises of a woman writer, which was made in 2000. From that year to the present, he has progressed many times to the stage of making one of his screenplays called “Bitter Tea”, but he did not succeed in making it.


Masoud Jafari Jozani

Important movies: Stone Lion

Iranian director and writer, born in December 1327, graduated in filmmaking from the University of San Francisco and started his career by making short films after the revolution, and with his first short film, he received an honorary diploma at the Fajr Festival.

Jozani’s first feature film was called “Cold Roads”, which was made in 1364, and it is the story of a young man who is forced to go to the city to prepare his father’s medicine, and two other people accompany him, but one of them stays behind in the snow and storm. and is attacked by wolves. This film was met with a great reception at Fajr Festival.

The year after that, he made the movie “Stone Lion”, which was even better than his previous movie. The acting couple of Tazami and Nasiriyan added to the weight of Jozani’s work. “Shin Sangi” is the story of the British presence in Iran in the oil-rich areas. In the seventies, he made three more films, none of which achieved the success of his two films in the sixties. He spent the 80s making the huge series “In the Eye of the Wind” and his return to cinema in the 90s with the movie “Iran Burger” was not very satisfying.