Dariush Mehrjui
Dariush Mehrjui (1939–2023) was an Iranian director and screenwriter, one of the founders of the Iranian New Wave. He studied philosophy at UCLA before returning to Iran and turning to filmmaking, where his breakthrough feature The Cow — adapted from a story by Gholam-Hossein Sa'edi — helped inaugurate a new realist current in Iranian cinema and influenced the country's later international wave. His later work spans literary adaptation, social satire, and intimate character study, often centred on women navigating Iranian society. His acclaimed films include The Cow, Mr. Naive, The Cycle, Hamoun, Sara, and Leila.