Masoud Kimiai (or Masoud Kimiaei,, born 29 July 1941) is an Iranian director, screenwriter and producer.

Biography

Without any academic training in cinema or theater, and with only a few years of experience as assistant director, Kimiai became a historical figure in the Iranian cinema. He learned film making from the movies, and of his early days of contact with the cinema. Kimiai started his career as an assistant director and made his debut, Come Stranger, in 1968. With his second film, Qeysar (also known as Qaiser and Gheisar) (1969), he and Dariush Mehrjui with the film The Cow, caused a historical change in Iranian film industry as the features that are considered the first films of the "Iranian New Wave". Qeysar became a great success at the box office and opened the way for young, talented filmmakers who never had a chance in the industry before. His films deal with people at the margin of the society with his anti-hero characters that die at the end. Many directors of commercial films imitated his Qeysarin the next couple of years, but he later shifted his focus to young antagonists. He usually writes his screenplays, using slang dialogue based on ordinary traditional people's dialect, which has received attention alongside criticism from Iranians in its unrealistic nature. In 1991, he was awarded a prize in 41st Berlin International Film Festival for his Snake Fang. This was not his sole international prize. At the Cairo International Film festival in 1979 he got from the International Catholic Organisation for Cinema (OCIC), the OCIC Prize for his film The Journey of the Stone. The international OCIC jury gave its award to this film because The Journey of the Stone denounced the exploitation of mankind by mankind and called for a more just social order. He has been married three times. He was married to the late Iranian pop singer Giti Pashaei until 1991, afterwards he married the Iranian pop singer Googoosh.

Filmography

Awards