August 11, 2003

I would like to name Kayvan Mashayekh as Iranian of the day. He is the director and writer of an upcoming Epic Film on the legendary Persian poet and mathematician Omar Khayyam.

Mr. Mashayekh and I met in Paris over a coffee to discuss about his current film project. The film is also to mark the screen comeback of one of Iran's most prestigious Stars Behrouz Vossoughi in the title role of Nizam al-Mulk and a supporting International cast including Vanessa Redgrave, Diane Baker (She starred in the 1962 cult sword and sandals film the 300 Spartans) and C. Thomas Howell. The title role of Khayyam will be cast in a near future and will be revealed when the film will be released sometime in the late Spring/Early Summer of 2004.

Synopsis: "The story is split into two parts with a modern day story and an ancient story from 11th Century Persia. A 12 year old Iranian American boy who lives in America and whose dying brother begins to tell him a story about their ancestry. We then flash back to the epic grandeur of 11th Century Persia to reveal the story of Omar Khayyam, Hassan Sabbah, Nizam al-Mulk, Malikshah and Omar's mythical love interest. The locations where the rest of the film will be made are in Samarkand and Bukhara, where Omar primarily worked studied and lived during the reign of the Seljuk Turks."

"Vanessa Redgrave who is cast as the 'Heiress' loved the script," says Mashayekh, "and delivered a breathtaking performance."

Mashayekh has been carrying this project for six years and is finally seeing his dream come true. "After the death of my father" says Mashayekh, "I felt I had to relate to my Iranian roots, again at the same time I wanted to make a movie on Khayyam which would have a universal appeal to viewers worldwide. Rest assured" continued Mashayekh "that it will be a film that Iranians from all around the world would embrace as the message is very simple...don't ever forget who you are and where you come from, because it's the stories in our past that make our future so much more meaningful."

Kayvan Mashayekh enthusiasm and commitment to bring Khayyam's Legend to the Silver Screen was quite communicative, this film will certainly mark a turning point in the career of this promising director of the short film "The Tip" noticed at different film festivals in the US and Europe in 1997.

Darius KADIVAR

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