Reza Allamehzadeh () is an

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian-born

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

filmmaker, film critic and writer who lives in

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He is primarily known for his films about refugees, such as ''The Guests of Hotel Astoria'' (1988), and the documentary ''Holy Crime'' (1994), about the murder of opposition figures in Europe by the Islamic regime in

. Allamehzadeh was born in 1943 in

Sari A sari (also called sharee, saree or sadi)The name of the garment in various regional languages include: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * is a drape (cloth) and a women's garment in the Indian subcontinent. It consists of an un-sti ...

Mazandaran Mazandaran Province (; ) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Sari, Iran, Sari. Located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range and Hyrcanian forests, it is border ...

province, Iran. He studied film directing at “Tehran Academy of Film and Television” from 1966 to 1969. Along with filmmaking, he writes and publishes children's books, novels, and short stories. He teaches film and TV courses at various universities including Hollins University in Virginia (US), Leeds Metropolitan University (UK), and International R/TV Training Center in the Netherlands, where he has been living since 1983. Allamehzadeh has been one of the advocates of Kurdish cinema. He is native in Persian and fluent in English and to some extent Dutch and Spanish. After fleeing to Europe where he still resides, Allamehzadeh has been making a number of films. Reza Allamehzadeh was banned from entering Iran at the time of writing '' Iranian Taboo''; recruited the help of friends who secretly shot inside Iran to investigate the centuries-old ban on the Baha'i Faith. All of the sequences in Iran were shot undercover by the filmmaker's local connections. In the film, he focuses his attention on the history of persecution faced by Iran's Bahá’í minority, puzzling over the fact that even those Iranians who believe Bahá’ís should be granted their rights often choose to remain silent about the matter — hence the film's title. "Despite being barred from entering my hometown, I was able to film deep within Iran with the help of dedicated friends who risked their lives to capture the material I needed," Mr. Allamehzadeh stated.

Works

Films

Source: * 1972 - ''The devotee'' * 1972 - ''Ghadir'' * 1973 - ''The Witness'' (short) * 1973 - ''Daar'' (short) * 1973 - ''The Trap'', awarded Grand Prix at 12th International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Gijon, Spain. * 1979 - ''Speak Up, Turkmen'' (Documentary short) * 1980 - ''The Wise Little Black Fish'' (Documentary) * 1981 - ''Shat o sharji'' (Documentary short) * 1981 - ''Agha-ye bimei'' (Short) * 1982 - ''Naghsh'' (Short) * 1986 - ''A Few Simple Sentences'', awarded best short, Stockholm 1986, International Immigrant Film Festival; best children's film, Tomar 1987, International Festival of Cinema for Children and Youth; best children's film, International Centre of Films for Children and Youth (CIFEJ), International Moscow Film Festival, 1987. * 1988 - ''The Guests of Hotel Astoria'', feature length, selected for the Venice, Moscow, Montreal and Chicago Film Festivals. * 1989 - ''The Night After the Revolution'' (Documentary) * 1990 - ''A Nation on Two Wheels'' (Documentary short) * 1991 - ''We Are Gypsies'' (Documentary) * 1994 - ''Holy Crime'', a controversial documentary on state terrorism of Islamic government of Iran in European countries. * 1997 - ''The Wave Is at Rest'' (Documentary) * 1997 - ''Manuscripts don't burn'' (Documentary) * 2011 - '' Iranian Taboo'', a documentary on the Baha'i community in and outside Iran. * 2014 - ''Tell Me of the Seas'' (Documentary) * 2020 - ''Tales of the corona days'' (Short)

Other Works/Publications

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Awards/Recognition

* 1973, Winner in the Short Film Awards for ''Daar''

Gijón International Film Festival The Gijón International Film Festival ( or ''FICXixón'') is an annual film festival held in Gijón, a city in northwest Spain. The festival is mainly concentrated on independent and auteur cinema. Gijón's International Short Film Competition ...

* 1989, Nominee: Best Feature Award for ''Guests of Hotel Astoria'' at the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

* 1989
Night After the Revolution

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...

References

External links