Do you know Kings of adaptation in Iran?

Adaptation works on screen always amaze movie and series fans worldwide. Iranian cinema is no exception with four Iranian cineastes as leading experts in the field.  

Such cinematic productions play an important role in localizing artistic and cultural works produced across the globe.

  Here is a line-up of top 5 directors within adaptation genre in Iranian cinema:

1.Dariush Mehrjoui

Mehrjoui is one of adaptation film pioneers in Iran with his internationally acclaimed work ‘The Cow’ in 1969 adopted from an Iranian novel.

The director’s CV is not limited to this film in the same genre as he was at the helm of other hit flicks such as ‘Hamoun’ and ‘Mom's Guest’.

2. Kiumars Pour-Ahmad

The second director on the list with no priority is Kiumars Pour-Ahmad. The veteran Iranian director is a household name for all Iranian children in the 1990s with his most popular series ‘The Stories of Majid’ (1991) which was originally produced for young audience, but quickly became a national hit among all age groups.

It was through this series that his mother, Parvindokht Yazdanian, launched her acting career as the loveable grandmother “Bibi”.

3. Behrouz Afkhami

The director who is well-known to ifilm viewers with hit series such as ‘Operation 125’ can be regarded as next generation of expert in adaptation on screen in Iran cinema after Mehrjoui and Pour-Ahmad. Critically acclaimed titles such as ‘The River's End’ (2004) and ‘Azar, Shahdokht, Parviz and Others’ (2013) are two cases in point.

4. Bahram Tavakkoli

A director from a younger generation of Iran cinema with impressive adaptation films will be Bahram Tavakkoli. He followed in footsteps of three directors mentioned earlier with ‘Here Without Me’ (2011) based on the Tennessee Williams play ‘The Glass Menagerie’. The talented director took his mastery in adaptation on screen to the next level with his film ‘Stranger’ which was one more play by Williams under the title ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’.

An intriguing fact about ‘Stranger’ is that the original play of the flick has generated adaptations from other international directors.  

AG/AG