Iranian filmmaker says he is alive with painting

TEHRAN,May 25(MNA) -- Iranian filmmaker Mohammad-Ali Sajjadi, who is famous for his thrillers said that he is alive with painting nowadays. Over the past few years, he has shifted gears to painting due to Iran’s current downturn in the motion picture industry. Certain cineastes have been allowed to make movies on biased themes over the in these years. “I am still interested in cinema but I did not want to make films at any price in honor of cinema,” he told the Persian service of MNA on Thursday. “I feel good now. I am really excited by painting. In this situation that the Iranian cinema has declined, painting keeps me alive,” he added. “The Fire of Siavosh”, his latest series inspired by a story from the Shahnameh, the masterpiece of the Persian epic poet Ferdowsi, was put on display in an exhibition at a gallery in the northern Iranian city of Babolsar. The exhibition came to an end yesterday. He said that the collection is a sequel to his “Siavoshan”, which was showcased in an exhibit at Tehran’s Shams Galley in October 2012. He stated that Ferdowsi and his work have been ignored in Iran and added that Iranian officials have referred to the Shahnameh “opportunistically” when they want to stir the national chauvinism. “This is sad that we do not have an outstanding film on the stories of the Shahnameh of which we can be proud,” he lamented.