Majid Majidi
Important movies: Children of the Sky, Color of God
Director, actor and screenwriter, born in April 1338, who became marginal especially for the production of the huge project “Mohammed Rasoolullah” in recent years, but on the other hand, he is the first Iranian filmmaker whose one of his films made it to the 5 finalists of the Oscar for the best international film. .
Before the revolution, Majidi was active in the theater as an actor. In the 60s, he started acting in cinema and his most important role was in the movie “Boycott” by Mohsen Makhmalbaf. After making several short films in 1374, he made his first feature film called “Father”, which won both the Crystal Simorgh of the Fajr Festival and the Jury Prize of the San Sebastian Festival.
A year after “Father”, he made the best film of his career till date, “Children of the Sky”. An honest and emotional film about siblings from a poor family who only have one pair of shoes, and the brother wants to finish second in the school track and field competition, the prize of which is a pair of shoes. The film gained so many fans that it was even included in textbooks, and of course, the film was nominated for an Oscar that year.
Then he made the movie “Color of God”. He specializes in making films about spirituality and faith. After “The Color of God”, he went to the subject of Afghanistan and shot the film “Rain” about Afghan immigrants in Iran. Majidi’s specialty was making so-called compact meaningful films, but suddenly he got a budget of several billion dollars to make a film about the life of the Prophet of Islam. The film was supposed to have several episodes and foreign actors also collaborated in its production, including AR Rahman, the famous Indian composer, and Vittorio Strava, the director of filming of films such as The Godfather, who also had an Oscar in his career, but the lack of a strong script made the film which should not be taken into consideration and despite the support of the officials and the long release period, it could not even return its initial investment.
After that, Majidi’s film went to India and he made the film “Beyond the Clouds” in a joint project with Indian cinema, which was not a success either.
Majidi has won Crystal Simorgh four times with his films and is considered the most popular filmmaker of Fajr Festival. His latest movie “Khorsheed”, which is about working children and starring working children, was released this year in cinemas and home theater network. A film that partially brought Majidi back to his path, and although not perfect, it reminds of the honesty and lovability of the movie “Children of the Sky”.
Dariush Mehrjouyi
Important movies: Mina Circle, Cow, Hamon, Leila, Sara, Centauri
Dariush Mehrjooi, born in December 1318, is one of the pioneers of the new wave of Iranian cinema and one of the greatest directors in the history of Iranian cinema. According to the survey of Film Monthly, the most enduring characters in Iranian cinema are related to Dariush Mehrjoui’s films. He became interested in cinema from the age of 17 and went to America to study cinema at the age of 20. But after a while, he left cinema and studied philosophy at UCLA University. While he was in America, he was an editor in a Persian-language magazine. In 1346, after returning to Iran, he made his first film “Diamond 33”. Many consider it to be Mehrjooi’s weakest film, but the truth is that he wanted to make a James Bond-style film in Iran.
He made his second film in 1348. “Cow” became one of the most important films in the history of Iranian cinema and attracted the attention of foreign festivals to Iranian cinema. The cow screenplay was adapted from one of the stories in the book “Azadaran Bil” by Gholamhossein Saedi, and Saedi himself collaborated with Mehrjooi in writing the screenplay. His last film before the revolution was “Daireh Mina” (1353), which was again a joint collaboration between him and Saedi. The film was so influential that it led to the establishment of the Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization. A movie about selling blood to hospitals.
In 1359, after the revolution, the first film he made was “The School We Went To”. A film that was banned and never seen well. Then he migrated to France for a while and after returning to Iran in 1368, he made the movie “Hamon” which quickly became a cult. In that period, making a film about the intellectual middle class was a novel thing. Hamid Hamun was both in love and engaged in intellectual thoughts. Mehrjoui was inspired by the book “Fear and Trembling” by Keir Kegur to make the film. The film that also introduced Khosrow Shakibaei to Iranian cinema.
After “Hamon” it was the turn of “Bano”. A film that was banned, and then “Sara”, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” and “Perry” based on the story “Farnie and Zoe” by Salinger. In 1375, he made the movie “Laila”, which is one of the best movies in his career and does not have the usual sloppiness of Mehrjooi in directing, and for the first time we saw Laila Hatami in a movie other than her father’s movies. “Lost Girlhood” is also a product of the same year. Mehrjooi’s last important film in the 70s was “The Pear Tree” because “Mix” was not of the quality of his previous films.
In the 80s, Mehrjooi also has two good films, “Mother’s Guest” and “Century”, which was banned for no reason and never saw the color of the cinema screen, and finally its DVD came out. After the confiscation of Centauri, it was as if Mehrjoo was no longer the former Mehrjoo. None of his subsequent films will touch your heart. His last film is “Laminoor” produced in 2018, the fate of which is still unknown.
Reza Mirkarimi
Important movies: Far Far Far Near, Under the Moonlight
Born in Bahman 1345, Reza Mirkarimi is a filmmaker close to the field of art, who has also held a position in the cinema for a long time. He studied graphic design at Tehran University and started making films in 1366 by making short films.
His first feature film is “Child and Soldier” produced in 1378, which was a film for children and teenagers. A year later, his path changed completely and he made the film “Under the Moonlight” about the clergy. The film won the special critics’ award from Fajr in Iran and was the best film of the critics’ week at the Cannes Film Festival. All of Reza Mirkarimi’s films have the theme of religion to some extent. In some films such as “There is a light on” this is more obvious and in films such as “Too far too close” or “It’s as simple as that” there are themes that don’t seem too big in the context of the story. After 2013, when he made the film “Yeh Habe Qand”, Mirkarimi has several unsuccessful films like “Amroz” in his career, which are boring until he was able to win the hearts of the audience and critics again in 2017 with the film “Qasr Shirin”. A movie in which we saw a different performance from Hamed Behdad.