ALBAWABA - Iranian film director and screenwriter Dariush Mehrjui and his wife Vahideh Mohammadifar were found stabbed to death in their residence in Karaj, according to reports from Persian media.
The couple's daughter Mona discovered her parents' bodies and immediately called the police. Mehrjui and Mohammadifar bodies were found with knife wounds to their necks.
The IRNA report said the assailant was unknown but that authorities are investigating alleged knife threats to the victims made on social media in recent weeks.
While sources indicate that Mehrjui was stabbed, it is possible that his wife was suffocated. Authorities are undertaking an immediate investigation to shed light on the circumstances surrounding the murder, as the motivation for this atrocity remains unknown.
In 2005 Mehrjui presided over the jury of the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema in France.
“We have just learned of the tragic death of Iranian film director Dariush Mehrjui and his wife, both brutally murdered by thieves,” said Vesoul director Jean-Marc Thérouanne in a statement, noting that “The Cow,” “Leila” and “Bemani” all screened in Vesoul.
Mehrjui, 83, attended the film program at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the early 1960s and then became known as co-founder of Iran’s new wave of social realism during the early 1970s thanks to his 1969 drama “The Cow” set in a rural Iranian village that suffers the loss of its single cow.
His subsequent works comprise the more intimate 1996 film “Leila” which looks at different conceptions of marriage in Iran, and “Bemani” (2002) about provincial women struggling to lead normal lives in Iran’s ultra-conservative society.
Mehrjui’s many accolades include a Silver Hugo from the Chicago International Film Festival in 1998 and a Golden Seashell at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in 1993.
