Ahmad Amini (Director )

Among film directors, there are people who have switched from other professions. They have been former directors of photography, assistant directors, actors, photographers or screenwriters. However, few directors have been formerly critics and journalists. Ahmad Amini is one of them. He made his first feature film about two decades ago. His first film, The Shadows of Invasion, tells the story of a family in a remote region along the border. It was very similar to western cinema and was one of the most successful films which have tried to adapt western genre to the Iranian cinema. A few years later, he made his second film, which was a commercial movie. Then he tried to make films which would both appeal to moviegoers and be innovative. He made his last feature film, This Woman Doesn't Speak, in 2000 before making television series. He has directed two popular series and is currently making his third. His first series was A Stranger among Us about prevalence of AIDS in Iran. The next was The First Quiet Night, which was a complicated story about a girl and her brother-in-law who are not aware of their family relation and fall in love with each other. After knowing about it, the brother takes a self-destructive measure and dies. The First Quiet Night was aired on the national television about a year ago and was very popular. His new series, called The Innocent, is a joint production along with Saeed Shahsavari, a screenwriter who has helped him with his previous series and shooting is to be finished before the end of winter. The most striking point about Amini's television series is use of cinematic mise en scène which aims to introduce cinema standards into television works. The young actors who appear in his works are guided so good that their striking performances makes them a target for other directors who get them to play leading roles in feature films.