# Khosrow Sinai

Khosrow Sinai (Persian: خسرو سینایی, 19 January 1941 – 1 August, 2020) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, composer, poet and scholar.
Sinai's work was influenced by documentaries and focused on social and artistic subjects. "Bride of Fire" is among his best known movies, and has won multiple awards in both domestic and international film festivals. He was the first Iranian film director to win an international prize after the 1979 revolution and has been awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

## Biography

Khosrow Sinai was born on 19 January 1941 in Sari, Mazandaran Province in north of Iran. He graduated in 1958 from Alborz High School in Tehran, and then went to Austria for further education. He spent four years studying Architecture at the Vienna University of Technology and three years study in music composition at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He graduated in music education from the Vienna Music Conservatory. Finally he graduated as cinema and television director (main study) and screenplay writing (subsidiary study) from Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (with honors).
After these years of study he returned to Iran in 1967 and worked in the Ministry of Culture and Arts (till 1972), and as instructor in various universities in the fields of screenplay writing and documentary film until 1992.
He also worked in National Iranian Television (now called Seda o Sima) as producer, screenplay writer, director, and editor making about 100 short films, documentaries, and features. He is best known for his Avant-garde documentaries and also his unique style in docu-drama. He has been a juror in several national and foreign film festivals.
Though Sinai is mostly known for his films, he was also a skilful composer and accordion virtuoso, and had composed soundtracks for some of his own films.

## Filmography

"Arus-e Atash", (The Bride of Fire) was one of his most successful films in box office and won the people's choice award, and best screenplay at the 18th Fajr Film Festival. In addition, Sinai won a Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Filmography of Khosrow Sinai :
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1977 | Impressions of a City, Tehran Today | |
| 1979 | Long live (Persian: زنده باد, Zendeh bad) | |
| 1980 | Viva ...! | award winner in Karlovy Vary Film Festival |
| 1983 | The Inner Beast (Persian: هیولای درون, Hayula-ye darun) | 2nd Fajr Festival as the best director |
| 1983 | The Lost Requiem (orig. title: Marsiye-ye gomshode, مرثیه گمشده) | Documentary film about Polish refugees in Iran. |
| 1987 | Going astray... (orig. Persian title: Yar dar khaneh..., ...یار در خانه, meaning "A friend at Home") | |
| 1990 | In the Alleys of Love | presented at the Un Certain Regard section at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival |
| 1997 | Autumn Alley | Premiered at the IDFA Film Festival in Amsterdam. |
| 1999 | The Bride of Fire | A film about the wedding traditions of southern Iranian tribes, that won several awards in both Iranian and international film festivals. |
| 2005 | Talking with a Shadow (Persian: Goftogu ba sayeh گفت و گو با سایه) | A documentary-drama film about Sadeq Hedayat (1903–1951). |
| 2005 | The Carpet, the Horse, the Turkoman (Persian: فرش، اسب، ترکمن, Farsh, asb, Torkaman) | |
| 2006 | The Desert of Blood (Persian: کویر خون, Kawir-e khun) | |
| 2014 | Rainbow Island (Persian: جزیره رنگین, Jazire-ye rangin) | |

## Published books and screenplays

* The Man in White
* The Artists of a Bloodshedding Era
* The Bride of Fire (Film Script)
* The Post-communist Cinema (translated from English).
* The Lost Requiem
* Muds Blisters, poetry collection (1963)
* Translation from German: My Journey and Adventures in Iran, a book by Ármin Vámbéry (1863).
He has also written and translated numerous essays about cinema and other fine arts.

## Personal life

Sinai married the Hungarian painter, Gizella Varga Sinai, and Iranian painter Farah Ossouli. His three daughters are artists, and his one son is a scientist.
On 1 August 2020, Sinai died at the age of 79 from COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.