Director Dariush Mehrjui, one of the most prominent members of Iran’s New Wave movement, has been stabbed to death alongside his wife at their home outside Tehran.
According to the local news agency IRNA, Mehrjui and Vahideh Mohammadifar, a screenwriter and costume designer, were discovered with knife wounds to their necks by his daughter Mona Mehrjui.
Local reports said four people have been connected to the crime, although no motive has been indicated. Mohammadifar recently posted on social media that they had received violent threats.
Mehrjui’s 1969 film The Cow is considered one of the most important films of the Iranian New Wave of the 1960s and 70s. His other key films include The Tenants (1987), Hamoun (1989), and The Pear Tree (1999), which featured the film debut of acclaimed actress Golshifteh Farahani. Mehrjui’s last film was 2020’s The Minor.
Iran’s minister of culture, Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaili, said in a statement that Mehrjui was “one of the pioneers of Iranian cinema” and “the creator of eternal works”.
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