Zurich hosts panel discussion with Iran director Dariush Mehrjoui

Panel discussion with noted Iran director Dariush Mehrjoui has been held at 2017 Iranian Film Festival in Swiss city of Zurich.

It was a special sideline program at the third edition of the film festival held on June 5, 2017.

Being instrumental in developing the Iranian cinema, Mehrjoui attended the discussion panel under the title ‘Iranian Cinema Past and Present’.

According to the festival's website, one of his memorial films in Iranian cinema, ‘Leila’, went on screen at the event, which was slated for June 1-7.

A recent social media post for the festival reads, "We had the honor to welcome Dariush Mehrjui at the Opening of the Iranian Film Festival in Zurich. Mr. Dodge, the founder of the festival handed Mr. Mehrjui the Cyrus Cylinder, the prestigious award created for the IFFZ."

Some other Iranian filmmakers such as Reza Dormishian, Talkhon Hamzavi and Sonia Shafei also attended the meeting.

The Iranian Film Festival of Zurich (IFFZ) aims to fill the cultural gap between Iranians and the Swiss as well as the many foreigners living in Switzerland.

Each year the festival presents the Swiss audience with a selection of the best contemporary feature films, documentaries and shorts from all generations of Iranian filmmakers in Zurich.

From an early age, Dariush Mehrjoui showed great interest in miniature painting and music, learning to play both the santoor and piano.

When he was 17, Mehrjoui became interested in cinema and started learning English to better understand the cinema of the world. At the age of 20, he moved to the US and enrolled in the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Cinema.

Eventually, he switched his major to Philosophy and graduated from UCLA in 1964. He then became the chief editor of Pars Review magazine in Los Angeles, one year before he returned to Iran.

Mehrjoui made his directing debut with ‘Diamond 33’ in 1966. His second feature film, ‘Cow’, brought him national and international recognition.

MG/AI