Iraj Karimi, Renowned Critic and Director of Cinema, Passed Away

Iraj Karimi, a renowned director and critic of Iranian cinema, passed away on Wednesday, September 11. Mr. Karimi had been hospitalized for two months due to leukemia and was undergoing chemotherapy. Born in 1953 in Tehran, he received a degree in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnic University of Tehran. This writer and director had worked for years as a critic in cinema magazines, particularly the monthly 'Film', and had published several short story collections in addition to translating several books and screenplays. Mr. Karimi directed his first feature film in 2000 titled 'We Pass By Each Other', which was nominated for Best Actor and Best Soundtrack at the Fajr Film Festival. 'The Gardens of Kandolus' and 'A Few Strands of Hair' were his subsequent films made in 2003 and 2004. 'The Magical Generation' was his fourth film that waited for years for a screening permit and eventually entered the home viewing network without a public release. In late last year, after an eight-year hiatus from cinema, Mr. Karimi directed his fifth feature film titled 'Profiles', a film about a character suffering from cancer, depicting the life of a young couple where the man spends his last days due to cancer, leading to a rivalry between the man's mother and wife. Babak Hamidian, Sahar Dolatshahi, Roya Nonahali, Hooman Sidi, Amir Hossein Rostami, and Sam Gharibian were the actors in this film that has yet to be released. Iraj Karimi also wrote the screenplay for the films 'The Magical Journey' directed by Abolhasan Davoodi and 'The Best Dad in the World' directed by Dariush Farhang. After Mr. Karimi's passing, Abbas Yari, one of the editors of the monthly Film, told ISNA about this writer and director, saying: 'Iraj Karimi was a very profound and capable person in film analysis and the medium of cinema, not just film criticism. His perspective in criticism encompassed the entire medium of cinema, and many cinema lovers learned criticism from him.' Mr. Yari noted that this artist was still collaborating with the magazine in the last days of his life, having started his collaboration from the early issues and continued until he was hospitalized. The body of the late Iraj Karimi is set to be buried on Friday, September 13, from in front of Building No. 2 of the House of Cinema towards Behesht Zahra in Tehran.