Masoud Jafari Jozani

Iranian filmmaker

Masoud Jafari Jozani (مسعود جعفری جوزانی; , born 9 December 1948) is an Iranian film director, screenwriter and producer. He has received an award for the best short film at the Fajr International Film Festival. In the Wind's Eye is one of Jafari Jozani's most notable works, which he directed and wrote. This TV series In the Wind's Eye was the first Iranian film to be shot in the United States since the Iranian Revolution (1979) and one of the most expensive films in the history of Iran, with a budget of $12 million. Jozani, Iranian cinema's enduring face, is a post revolutionary cinema pioneer who introduced Iranian post revolutionary cinema to international festivals with his debut film, Frosty Roads. He was recognized as a bridge between East and West cinema in 1987 and 1988, when he attended many international film festivals, including the Berlin International Film Festival, the Montreal World Film Festival, the Hawaii International Film Festival, and the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

Masoud Jafari Jozani was born 9 December 1948 in Malayer, Hamadan province, Pahlavi Iran.

Towards Freedom by Jozani is considered the first political documentary in Iran, played on 10 February 1980 by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Masoud Jafari Jozani founded the IRIB's animation section and produced some animated films.

In 1984, Jozani, by making the short film Speak to Me, produced by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, managed to get the honorary diploma for best short film from the third Fajr International Film Festival. This historical TV series In the Wind's Eye was telling three historical periods: the first was the end of the Qajar Iran and beginning of the Pahlavi dynasty, the second was World War II and a special time after the revolution which was after the Battle of Khorramshahr. Making this series with 480 locations in over 10 other cities and provinces was one of the biggest television productions.

The feature film Iran Burger, Jozani's only comedy made, with the help of a local and folkloric atmosphere, and a script is written in situation comedy, was made into a high selling, fun, and respectable film.

In 2020, he began making the film Paradise of Criminals, which also deals with the events of the nationalization of the oil industry.

Masoud Jafari Jozani still has a head filled with ideas and great Iranian characters. Although his three scripts: Ya'qub ibn al Layth, Pourya ye Vali, and Cyrus the Great have passed the first stages of production, for various reasons, they have not been completed. In the years afterward, Masoud Jafari Jozani has signed contracts with American and Canadian film studios to produce the Baskerville film in Iran. Still, each failed for some reason, except for the most recent agreement signed with the association searching for a common ground, which even obtained official permission from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to produce the film. According to the American newspaper Le Figaro, an American producer decided to use Brad Pitt as Howard Baskerville; However, for whatever reason, the film was never made. Finally, the American and Iranian Screenwriters Association in the United States and Canada registered the Baskerville scripts titled after Masoud Jafari Jozani and Mohammad Mehdi Dadgoo. In 2005 Masoud Jafari Jozani was informed that an Iranian filmmaker based in the United States announced that he was planning to travel to Turkey to make Baskerville. Jozani reacted to the media and announced that he was filing a lawsuit for stealing works of art in Iran and the United States. In 2010 Massoud Jafari Jozani, after obtaining a filming license in the United States, decided to make the TV series Baskerville. He tries to make this TV series with the financial assistance of the Iranian and American companies, But it did not work out.

Masoud Jafari Jozani wrote the screenplay of Cyrus the Great in the style of an adapted screenplay based on the life story of Cyrus the Great with the researcher Fathullah Jafari Jozani and Abdul Karim Younesi. The character of Cyrus is highly significant in terms of historical and national standing. Still, big powers without history and culture are attempting to deny Iran's position in the world, so the construction of this project was on the agenda. Ali Moallem, one of the producers, introduced Masoud Jafari Jozani as the director.

Masoud Jafari Jozani was going to make a TV series about Nasir al Din al Tusi after the TV series In the Wind's Eye for Simafilm. Still, unfortunately Khawaja Nasir al Din al Tusi did not get made.

Masoud Jafari Jozani wrote the script for Pourya ye Vali for a TV series in five seasons (52 episodes of 50 min). Although the contract for this series was signed in 2013 by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, it was not produced due to a change in management of IRIB, and Finally, Anapana Publishing published it. Fathollah Jafari Jozani and Doctor Abdulkarim Yunesi, the researchers of this script, used over 30 books, including Jami' al tawarikh, Tarikh i Jahangushay, and The Cambridge History of Iran. The life story of Pahlavān Mahmoud, more commonly known as Pouryā ye Vali, begins in 1219 when the Mongolians assaulted Iran. Between 1270 and 1283, Iranian manufacturers were treated as slaves by the Mongol rulers and compelled to build weapons for them. Rural subjects who couldn't pay their taxes for themselves and their families were sold. During this time, Pouria ye Vali was able to bring together liberals and fighters by organizing and building traditional sporting halls known as Zurkhaneh. The other historical characters of this script we may mention are Saadi Shirazi, Ubayd Zakani, Nasir al Din al Tusi, Rashid al Din Hamadani, and the wrestling champion File Hamedani.

Masoud Jafari Jozani and the Farabi Cinema Foundation concluded the contract for Ya'qub ibn al Layth. Ya'qub ibn al Layth's screenplay about the founder of the Saffarid dynasty in Sistan and his chivalry, simple life, and his role in history in uniting the Iranian people. Ya'qub ibn al Layth al Saffar was a young Ayyār who was under the influence of Rostam's stories, decided to help the poor and oppressed people with the help of the small group of young Ayyars that had gathered around him and in the opinion of the people of Sistan became a legendary champion. The script will be aired on the Home Video. Jafari Jozani has mentioned this point in one of his interviews that:"Unfortunately, our children know more about Robin Hood than Ya'gub Al Layth while he is one of the historical figures who has founded Ayyār i and Futuwwa in Iran and teaches the youth how a better life is possible."

1976 – Remember the Flight (5 min.) 1977 – Caged (6 min. claymation)
1978 – Conception (20 min., claymation, won the 1978 Student Academy Award, played on the KQED (P. B. S) in the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting)
1979 – Towards Freedom (100 min. Documentary, played on Iranian television)
1984 – Escape, based on the Masnavi ye Man'avi (the book by Rumi the Persian poet, 16 min., Claymation, for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting)
1984 – Broken Image, based on the Masnavi ye Man'avi (the book by Rumi the Persian poet, 25 min. Claymation, for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting)
1985 – Speak to Me (30 min. for the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults)

Kevin Thomas, a journalist of the Los Angeles Times newspaper, in an article entitled "Iran's 'Man, a Bear' Finds Humor, Heart" wrote about the movie A Man and a Bear directed by Masoud Jafari Jozani, published on 12 July 1996, issue of Los Angeles Times:"Once past an awkward start, Masoud Jafari Jozani's "A Man, a Bear" emerges as a courageous satirical allegory on authoritarianism and hardship in contemporary Iran." "Yet, along with its outspokenness, "A Man, a Bear" is also a warm, endearing and often very funny film."

Ben Walters published a report entitled "First Iranian film shot in US since 1979 gets under way" in The Guardian on 1 September 2009:Production is to begin on the first Iranian film shot in the US since the Islamic Revolution. In the Wind's Eye, directed by veteran filmmaker Masoud Jafari Jozani, is also reported to have the highest ever budget for an Iranian film at $12m (£7.3m).

Variety, the oldest and most prestigious magazine in world cinema, in a report on 8 September 2009 entitled "Open door policy: L. A. lures Iran crew" examined the production of the series In the Wind's Eye and stated at the beginning of its report:As the American public was riveted by the spectacle of riot police suppressing the massive demonstrations disputing the results of Iran's June 12 election, one crack appeared in the wall between the two countries. Surprisingly, Iranian helmer Masoud Jafari Jozani managed to secure visas for members of his cast and crew to travel to and film in the U. S. — the first Iranian production to do so since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Indiewire, a film industry and review website, wrote in a report on the production of the series In the Wind's Eye entitled "Jafari project the first Iranian production filming in the U. S. since the Islamic Revolution in 1979":
Based on a 52 hour epic television series that took four years to produce and recently began airing on Iranian television, "Dar Chashme Bad", production has begun in Los Angeles on a companion feature film, "In The Wind's Eye". Following three generations of Iranians from 1920 through 1981, with an overall budget of $12 million, the project will be the longest running and most expensive production in that country's film industry's history. It is also the first Iranian production filmed in the US since the revolution in 1979. Veteran filmmaker, Masoud Jafari Jozani, has written and directed each episode of the series, as well as the screenplay for the feature film, which will be released in theatres in Iran.