TEHRAN – Fereshteh Taerpur, an Iranian producer who was famous for her children’s films, died from coronavirus last Tuesday. She was 69.

Taerpur was released from a Tehran hospital two days before her death, however, she was hospitalized again when her condition became critical, and shortly thereafter she died, Persian media announced.

She was one of those Iranian personalities who made many efforts to convince medical officials to provide COVID-19 vaccine for Iranian cineastes.  

Majlis speaker, culture minister, director of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, and many other officials have issued messages of condolences over Taerpur’s death.

Born in 1952, Taerpur had a BA in English. Working for a women’s magazine made her more interested in writing, leading her towards children’s issues.

Consequently, her desire for children’s issues led her to the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA), where she served as the director of the Writing and Editing Department. She also worked as a writer and advisor for IRIB’s Channel 1 and Channel 2 at the same time.

As a producer, he began her career in cinema with “Golnar” in 1988. The film was written and directed by Kambozia Partovi who also passed away from COVID-19 in 2020. Taerpur’s daughter, Ghazal Shakeri, played the title role in the fairy tale.

“Patal and Small Wishes” was her second film directed by Masud Keramati in 1989. Two years later, she worked with director Ali Sajjadi-Hosseini in “Old Men’s School”, which secured her place as a prolific producer in children’s cinema.

However, she also collaborated with director Negar Azarbaijani in “Facing Mirrors”, a narrative featuring a transgender main character, and director Sirus Alvand in the family drama “The Second Wife”.

Later on, Taerpur’s reluctance to work with Iranian filmmakers in children’s cinema led her to concentrate more on family films. Consequently, she produced “Goodbye Shirazi Girl” directed by Afshin Hashemi in 2019 and “Instruments Out of Tune” directed by Ali Hazrati in 2020.

She is survived by her husband, Manuchehr Shahsavari, who is also a producer, and her daughters Ghazal, Asal and his son, Ali.

Photo: Producer Fereshteh Taerpur in an undated photo.

MMS/YAW