Kambuzia Partovi, Iranian Film Writer-Director, Dies of Coronavirus

Movie director Kambuzia Partovi. (AFP)
Movie director Kambuzia Partovi. (AFP)
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Kambuzia Partovi, Iranian Film Writer-Director, Dies of Coronavirus

Movie director Kambuzia Partovi. (AFP)
Movie director Kambuzia Partovi. (AFP)

Movie director Kambuzia Partovi, who scripted the only Iranian film to win a Golden Lion in Venice, died on Tuesday of the novel coronavirus, the country’s film body said.

Partovi, one of the "most influential filmmakers of Iranian children's cinema", died in Tehran's Dey hospital aged 64, the Farabi Foundation said in a message of condolence on its website.

Born in Rasht in northern Iran, Partovi began his directing career in the 1980s with "Mahi" ("The Fish") and quickly became an important figure in Iranian children's cinema -- but he did not limit himself to the genre.

As a scriptwriter, Partovi worked with several well-known Iranian filmmakers, including Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi and Majid Majidi.

He won four scriptwriting awards from Tehran's Fajr Festival, the most among his peers.

In 2000, Partovi co-wrote "The Circle", which tackles difficulties facing Iranian women. It was the first and so far only Iranian film to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Partovi's later film "Cafe Transit", which tells the story of a widow who decides to run her late husband's truck-stop restaurant, was selected to represent Iran at the Oscars in 2007.

In 2013, Panahi and Partovi won the Silver Bear for best screenplay at the Berlin film festival for "Parde" ("Closed Curtain"), made secretly in defiance of a ban by the Tehran authorities.

Partovi is not the first Iranian filmmaker to die of the novel coronavirus.

Iranian media announced in August that renowned filmmaker Khosro Sinai had also died from Covid-19.

Iran is the country worst-hit in the region by the pandemic.

It has officially recorded 45,738 deaths and 880,542 virus cases, though some officials, including from the health ministry, have expressed concern that the real toll is likely to be higher.

Tehran announced Saturday it had shut non-essential businesses in over half its cities and towns for up to two weeks and introduced movement restrictions in order to rein in the outbreak.



Where's Marty McFly's Guitar? Search Is on for ‘Back to the Future’ Prop 4 Decades Later 

Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
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Where's Marty McFly's Guitar? Search Is on for ‘Back to the Future’ Prop 4 Decades Later 

Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 

Marty McFly grabbed a guitar in “Back to the Future” and rocked out with the band at a 1950s high school dance, helping him narrowly avoid blinking out of existence before time-traveling back to the 1980s.

The guitar, in real life, wasn't as lucky.

Filmmakers went looking for the instrument while making the movie's 1989 sequel, but even now it's nowhere to be found. Four decades after the blockbuster film debuted, the guitar's creator has launched a search for the iconic Cherry Red Gibson ES-345.

Gibson, which is based in Nashville, is asking the public for help tracking it down as the movie turns 40 and as the company produces a new documentary about the search and the film, “Lost to the Future.”

In a video by Gibson, with the movie's theme song playing in the background, “Back to the Future” stars such as Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Harry Waters Jr. make a cinematic plea. There's also a surprise appearance by Huey Lewis, whose band Huey Lewis and the News performed the soundtrack's headliner song, “The Power of Love.”

Lloyd, in the cadence of Doc Brown, says in the video that the guitar has been “lost to the future.”

“It's somewhere lost in the space-time continuum,” says Fox, who played McFly. “Or it's in some Teamster's garage.”

In the film, McFly steps in for an injured band member at the 1955 school dance with the theme “Enchantment under the Sea,” playing the guitar as students slow dance to “Earth Angel.” He then leads Marvin Barry and the Starlighters in a rendition of “Johnny B. Goode,” calling it an oldie where he comes from even though the 1958 song doesn't exist yet for his audience.

Fox said he wanted McFly to riff through his favorite guitarists' signature styles — Jimi Hendrix behind the head, Pete Townshend's windmill and the Eddie Van Halen hammer. After digging and dancing to “Johnny B. Goode,” the students at the dance fall into an awkward silence as McFly's riffs turn increasingly wild.

“I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet,” McFly says. “But your kids are gonna love it.”