TEHRAN – Iranian writer Habib Ahmadzadeh said on Wednesday that Khosro Sinai, director of acclaimed drama “Bride of Fire” and several documentary films, has contracted COVID-19.

In a post published on the social network, Ahmadzadeh asked people to pray for his health.

“I never wanted to make such a request from anyone, but today I need your prayers for my great and dear friend Khosro Sinai. How many great men like Sinai, does the Iranian cinema possess?” he said.

“Now he has been admitted to hospital and he is receiving treatment for the novel coronavirus after he tested positive for the virus. His lungs are infected and his breathing is possible only through a ventilator,” he added.

Sinai had an operation in the hospital last month and afterwards was released. 

Sinai has made many documentaries, including “The Melody Which an Antique Hears”, “Beyond the Clamor”, “The Coldness of Iron”, “Haj Mosavvar al-Maleki” and “Hossein Yavari”.

He is also the director of “Talking with a Shadow”, a documentary about Iran’s foremost short story writer, Sadeq Hedayat, who was influenced by world literature, especially European literature, and read the works of Kafka, Poe and Dostoyevsky. He committed suicide in Paris.

In 2008, Sinai received the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for “The Lost Requiem” (1970-1983), his documentary that tells the story of the wartime exodus to Iran by thousands of Polish citizens after being released from the Soviet labor camps of Siberia during World War II.

A number of Polish citizens took refuge in the central Iranian city of Isfahan during World War II.

“In the Alleys of Love” and “Bride of Fire” are among Sinai’s other credits.

Early in July, 81-year old writer, poet and art critic Javad Mojabi tested positive, however, he is feeling much better these days.

Mohammad Mirzamani, the composer of the 1980s popular TV series “Kuchake Jangali”, tested positive for the coronavirus mid-March, but recovered and is also feeling better.

Photo: Filmmaker Khosro Sinai in an undated photo. 

RM/MMS/YAW