Khosrow Sinai

Iranian film director (1941–2020)

Khosrow Sinai

خسرو سینایی

Sinai in 2015

Born| (1941-01-19)19 January 1941

Sari, Mazandaran province, Imperial State of Iran

Died| 1 August 2020(2020-08-01) (aged 79)

Tehran, Iran

Resting place| Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery, Tehran
Occupation(s)| Film director, screenwriter, composer
Years active| 1966[1]–2020
Notable work| Viva ...!
In the Alleys of Love
The Bride of Fire
Spouse|

Farah Ossouli

(m. 1975)​

Partner| Gizella Varga Sinai (1967–2020)
Children| 4
Awards| Crystal Simorgh for Best Director (1984)
Crystal Simorgh for Best Screenplay (2000)
Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2008)
Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis (2010) [2]
Signature

Khosrow Sinai (Persian: خسرو سینایی, 19 January 1941 – 1 August, 2020) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, composer, poet and scholar.[3]

Sinai's work was influenced by documentaries and focused on social and artistic subjects. "Bride of Fire" is among his best known movies, and has won multiple awards in both domestic and international film festivals. He was the first Iranian film director to win an international prize after the 1979 revolution and has been awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

## Biography

[edit]

Khosrow Sinai was born on 19 January 1941 in Sari, Mazandaran Province in north of Iran.[4] He graduated in 1958 from Alborz High School in Tehran, and then went to Austria for further education. He spent four years studying Architecture at the Vienna University of Technology and three years study in music composition at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He graduated in music education from the Vienna Music Conservatory. Finally he graduated as cinema and television director (main study) and screenplay writing (subsidiary study) from Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (with honors).[5]

After these years of study he returned to Iran in 1967 and worked in the Ministry of Culture and Arts (till 1972), and as instructor in various universities in the fields of screenplay writing and documentary film until 1992.[6]

He also worked in National Iranian Television (now called Seda o Sima) as producer, screenplay writer, director, and editor making about 100 short films, documentaries, and features. He is best known for his Avant-garde documentaries and also his unique style in docu-drama. He has been a juror in several national and foreign film festivals.[6]

Though Sinai is mostly known for his films, he was also a skilful composer and accordion virtuoso, and had composed soundtracks for some of his own films.[7]

## Filmography

[edit]

"Arus-e Atash", (The Bride of Fire) was one of his most successful films in box office and won the people's choice award, and best screenplay at the 18th Fajr Film Festival.[8] In addition, Sinai won a Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Filmography of Khosrow Sinai  Year  | Title  | Notes

|
|

1977  | Impressions of a City, Tehran Today |
1979  | Long live (Persian: زنده باد, Zendeh bad)  |
1980  | Viva ...! | award winner in Karlovy Vary Film Festival
1983  | The Inner Beast (Persian: هیولای درون, Hayula-ye darun)  | 2nd Fajr Festival as the best director
1983  | The Lost Requiem (orig. title: Marsiye-ye gomshode, مرثیه گمشده)  | Documentary film about Polish refugees in Iran.[9]
1987  | Going astray... (orig. Persian title: Yar dar khaneh..., ...یار در خانه, meaning "A friend at Home")  |
1990  | In the Alleys of Love | presented at the Un Certain Regard section at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival[10]
1997  | Autumn Alley | Premiered at the IDFA Film Festival in Amsterdam.
1999  | The Bride of Fire | A film about the wedding traditions of southern Iranian tribes, that won several awards in both Iranian and international film festivals.
2005  | Talking with a Shadow (Persian: Goftogu ba sayeh گفت و گو با سایه)  | A documentary-drama film about Sadeq Hedayat (1903–1951).
2005  | The Carpet, the Horse, the Turkoman (Persian: فرش، اسب، ترکمن, Farsh, asb, Torkaman)  |
2006  | The Desert of Blood (Persian: کویر خون, Kawir-e khun)  |
2014  | Rainbow Island (Persian: جزیره رنگین, Jazire-ye rangin)  |

## Published books and screenplays

[edit]

* The Man in White
* The Artists of a Bloodshedding Era
* The Bride of Fire (Film Script)
* The Post-communist Cinema (translated from English).
* The Lost Requiem
* Muds Blisters, poetry collection (1963)
* Translation from German: My Journey and Adventures in Iran, a book by Ármin Vámbéry (1863).

He has also written and translated numerous essays about cinema and other fine arts.[6]

## Personal life

[edit]

Sinai married the Hungarian painter, Gizella Varga Sinai,[11] and Iranian painter Farah Ossouli.[12] His three daughters are artists, and his one son is a scientist.[12]

On 1 August 2020, Sinai died at the age of 79 from COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.[13][14]

## See also

[edit]

* Cinema of Iran

## References

[edit]

1. ^ دوران کاری
2. ^ awardees database in Polish
3. ^ "Khosrow Sinai: A Retrospective". Financial Tribune. 18 August 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
4. ^ "Khosrow Sinai: A Retrospective". Financial Tribune. 18 August 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
5. ^ "Khosrow Sinai Biography".
6. ^ a b c "Khosrow Sinai: A Retrospective". 18 August 2018.
7. ^ "Khosrow Sinai: A Retrospective". 18 August 2018.
8. ^ "Fajr 18th". Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
9. ^ "تقدیر از مهتاب کرامتی در پاریس" [Appreciation of Moonlight Kramati in Paris]. BBCPersian.com (in Persian). 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
10. ^ "Festival de Cannes: In the Alleys of Love". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
11. ^ "زندگینامه: گیزلا سینایی(۱۳۲۳-)". همشهری آنلاین (in Persian). 2 May 2011. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
12. ^ a b Kav, Fatemeh; i (14 January 2011). "A family affair". Mashallah News. Retrieved 13 December 2019. "their dad, film maker Khosrow Sinai, and his two wives, Farah Ossouli and Gizella Varga-Sinai"
13. ^ مبارزه سخت خسرو سینایی با کرونا
14. ^ خسرو سینایی درگذشت

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Michaël Abescassis, Impressions of an Auteur, Tehran Today: Talking with Iranian Director Khosrow Sinai, Bright Lights Film Journal, May 2009, [1].
* Ryszard Antolak, The Lost Requiem of Khosrow Sinai, Persian Journal, 25 November 2007, [2].
The Lost Requiem: Khosrow Sinai's priceless Iranian and Polish historical document, The Iranian, 26 November 2007, [3].
* Khosrow Sinai, The passing of the Polish through Iran (Gozar-e Lahestāni-hā az Iran), in Persian, Jadid Online, 28 May 2009, (Persian) Archived 23 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine, (English) Archived 28 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
An audio slideshow by Shokā Sahrā'i (with English subtitles): [4] (7 min 46 sec).
* An extended interview with Kh. Sinai, his biography, list of books, in Persian (artebox.ir)[permanent dead link]

* v
* t
* e

Crystal Simorgh for Best Screenplay

* Not Awarded (1983)
* Alireza Davoodnejad and Ebrahim Makki (1984)
* No winner (1985)
* Majid Gharizadeh (1986)
* Masoud Jafari Jozani (1987)
* No winner (1988)
* Mohsen Makhmalbaf (1989)
* Dariush Mehrjui (1990)
* Yadollah Samadi (1991)
* Asghar Abdollahi and Hassan Gholizadeh (1992)
* Dariush Mehrjui (1993)
* Mohammad-Ali Talebi and Houshang Moradi Kermani (1994)
* Rakhshan Bani-Etemad (1995)
* Kamal Tabrizi and Reza Maghsoodi (1996)
* Majid Majidi (1997)
* Ebrahim Hatamikia (1998)
* Tahmineh Milani (1999)
* Khosrow Sinai and Hamid Farrokhnezhad (2000)
* Bahram Beyzai (2001)
* Kambuzia Partovi and Rasul Sadr-Ameli (2002)
* Parviz Shahbazi (2003)
* Peyman Ghasemkhani (2004)
* Kambuzia Partovi (2005)
* No winner (2006)
* Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, Farid Mostafavi, Mohsen Abdolvahab and Naghmeh Samini (2007)
* Shadmehr Rastin and Reza Mirkarimi (2008)
* Abolhassan Davoodi and Farid Mostafavi (2009)
* Homayoun Shahnavaz and Shahram Asadi (2010)
* Asghar Farhadi (2011)
* Mostafa Kiayee (2012)
* Behnam Behzadi (2013)
* Behrouz Afkhami (2014)
* Roya Mohaghegh (2015)
* Saeed Roustayi (2016)
* Kambuzia Partovi (2017)
* Kambuzia Partovi / Houman Seyyedi (2018)
* Mohsen Gharaie and Mohammad Davoudi (2019)
* Majid Majidi and Nima Javidi (2020)
* Arsalan Amiri, Ida Panahandeh and Tahmineh Bahram (2021)
* Kazem Daneshi (2022)
* Babak Khajeh Pasha (2023)
* No winner (2024)

* v
* t
* e

Crystal Simorgh for Best Director

* Not Awarded (1983)
* Khosrow Sinai (1984)
* Yadollah Samadi (1985)
* Kianoush Ayari (1986)
* Abbas Kiarostami (1987)
* Kianoush Ayari (1988)
* Mohsen Makhmalbaf (1989)
* Dariush Mehrjui (1990)
* Varuzh Karim-Masihi (1991)
* Rakhshan Bani-Etemad (1992)
* Sirus Alvand (1993)
* Mohammad Bozorgnia (1994)
* Dariush Mehrjui (1995)
* Kiumars Pourahmad (1996)
* Majid Majidi (1997)
* Ebrahim Hatamikia (1998)
* Rasoul Mollagholipour (1999)
* Bahman Farmanara (2000)
* Majid Majidi (2001)
* Rasul Sadr-Ameli (2002)
* Reza Mirkarimi (2003)
* Ahmad-Reza Darvish (2004)
* Majid Majidi (2005)
* Asghar Farhadi (2006)
* Mohammad-Hossein Latifi/ Amir-Shahab Razavian (2007)
* Majid Majidi (2008)
* Asghar Farhadi (2009)
* Ebrahim Hatamikia (2010)
* Asghar Farhadi (2011)
* Parviz Sheikhtadi (2012)
* Parviz Shahbazi (2013)
* Ahmad-Reza Darvish (2014)
* Abolhassan Davoudi (2015)
* Saeed Roustayi (2016)
* Vahid Jalilvand (2017)
* Ebrahim Hatamikia/ Bahram Tavakoli (2018)
* Narges Abyar (2019)
* Mohammad Hossein Mahdavian (2020)
* Mehdi Jafari (2021)
* Reza Mirkarimi (2022)
* Mohammad Ali Bashe Ahangar (2023)
* Behrouz Afkhami (2024)
* Hamid Zargarnejad (2025)

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* United States
* 2
* Australia
* Poland
* Israel

Artists|

* MusicBrainz

People|

* Trove

Other|

* IdRef

*[m.]: married
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template