About

Known credits:
43
Birthday:
1944-06-28
Place of birth:
Qazvin, Iran
Website:
N/A

Sohrab Shahid Saless

Overview

Sohrab Shahid-Saless was born in Tehran in 1944 to a middle-class family and lived in Tehran. Saless was a storyteller as a child, with a passion for visualizing his narrations. In 1963, Shahid Saless left Iran for Vienna, where he attended a film school and an acting school at the same time, but his studies were discontinued there in 1967 due to a sudden diagnosis of tuberculosis. In the midst of treatment, he left for Paris to continue his film studies at the prestigious Independent Conservatory of French Cinema, and shortly thereafter, in 1968, he returned to Iran. Upon his return to Tehran, Shahid Saless began work with the Iranian Ministry of Culture as a documentary filmmaker, where he produced multiple short films and documentaries, partly on the topic of traditional dance amongst different Iranian ethnic groups. In the course of his stay in Iran (1968–74), he produced two major feature films, Yek ettefāq-e sāda (A Simple Event, 1973) and Ṭabiʿat-e bijān (Still Life, 1974), both of which won major international awards for their social realist depiction of life in Iran and for their innovative cinematographic and experimental style.Shahid Saless also made several short films for the Ministry of Culture and Arts. He made many commissioned films on the local folkloric dances of various ethnic groups. He also started making short documentaries depicting the unnerving condition of life among the working class. Unsurprisingly, the political subversive message of these films was disliked by the government, and Shahid Saless was forced to leave the country. Settled in Germany in 1974, Shahid Saless started producing documentaries for the German media. The movies he made gained him further international recognition, and he continued making documentary and feature films for major German television programs. He made his last movie, Rosen für Afrika, in 1991 for German television. In 1992, he left Germany for the United States to join his family. He died from a chronic illness related to his liver from which he suffered throughout his life.

Shahid Saless is known to be a pioneer of the new wave of Iranian cinema. In his own words, his cinema intends to document the “antagonism between man and society”. In the course of his oeuvre, he viewed the role of cinema as “to make conscious of indignity and inhumanity of life".

Known for

Acting
2021 Meteor: Sohrab Shahid Saless Actor Self N/A
N/A
2016 Sohrab, A Journey Actor Self (archive footage) N/A
N/A
1998 Sohrab Shahid Saless: Far from Home Actor N/A
N/A
1968 Beyond the Barrier of Sound Actor man waiting for the bus (uncredited) N/A
N/A

Directing
1992 Roses for Africa Directing Director 58
Average
1987 Changeling Directing Director 58
Average
1987 A Letter from Kabul Directing Director N/A
N/A
1985 Hans: A Young Man in Germany Directing Director N/A
N/A
1984 The Willow Tree Directing Director N/A
N/A
1983 Utopia Directing Director 58
Average
1983 Addressee Unknown Directing Director N/A
N/A
1981 Anton P. Chekhov: A Life Directing Director 58
Average
1980 All in Order Directing Director 58
Average
1980 Grabbe's Last Summer Directing Director 58
Average
1979 The Long Vacation of Lotte H. Eisner Directing Director N/A
N/A
1978 Still Life Directing Director 59
Average
1977 Diary of a Lover Directing Director 58
Average
1976 Time of Maturity Directing Director 58
Average
1975 Far From Home Directing Director 58
Average
1973 A Simple Event Directing Director 58
Average
1972 Black and White Directing Director 58
Average
1971 If...? Directing Director N/A
N/A
1970 Dances of Torbat-e Jam Directing Director N/A
N/A
1969 2nd Asian Expo Directing Director N/A
N/A
1969 Dance of Bojnourd Directing Director N/A
N/A

Writing
1992 Roses for Africa Writing Writer 58
Average
1988 Bleeding Heart Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1985 Hans: A Young Man in Germany Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1984 The Willow Tree Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1983 Utopia Writing Writer 58
Average
1983 Addressee Unknown Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1981 Anton P. Chekhov: A Life Writing Writer 58
Average
1980 All in Order Writing Writer 58
Average
1979 The Long Vacation of Lotte H. Eisner Writing Writer N/A
N/A
1978 Still Life Writing Screenplay 59
Average
1977 Diary of a Lover Writing Writer 58
Average
1976 Time of Maturity Writing Writer 58
Average
1975 Far From Home Writing Writer 58
Average
1973 A Simple Event Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1972 Black and White Writing Writer 58
Average

Art
1978 Still Life Art Art Direction 59
Average

Editing
1974 Harmonica Editing Editor 59
Average
1972 Black and White Editing Editor 58
Average