Iranian film director Dariush Mehrjui and his wife were found murdered at their residence in Alborz province of Iran on Saturday (October 14, 2023), local media reported.
He was 83.
Hossein Fazeli-Harikandi, chief justice of Alborz province, told IRNA news agency Mehrjuis daughter Mona said her father sent a message to her at around 8:50 p.m. on Saturday and invited her to their house for dinner, but after she arrived at around 10:25 p.m., she found them dead with knife wounds in their necks.
An investigation into the incident is currently underway.
Mehrjui was a member of the Iranian Academy of the Arts.
Mehrjui was a founding member of the Iranian New Wave movement of the early 1970s. His second film, The Cow, is considered to be the first film of this movement, which also included Masoud Kimiai and Nasser Taqvai.
Most of his films are inspired by literature and adapted from Iranian and foreign novels and plays.
