Daryush Shokof

Daryush Shokof (Persian: داریوش شکوف) (born Ali Reza Shokoufandeh) is an Iranian artist,^{[citation needed]} film director, writer, and film producer. He was born in Tehran, Iran, but lives in Germany.

Background

He was born in Tehran,and completed his studies with a diploma in mathematics from Tehran High School Kharazmi. Thereafter he moved to the U.S.A. and studied further in the fields of Mathematics,and Physics at Eastern New Mexico University in New Mexico with a degree in bachelors of science. He then continued his studies for Master's Degree in Dallas, Texas in the fields of Industrial Management. Shokof then moved to New York where he continued studies at the New York University in fields of Arts and Cinema. He finally moved to Germany where he became a full-time sculptor in 1985. He continued to simultaneously write film scripts and made his first feature film debut Seven Servants in Germany in 1995 which never got released for over 13 years.

Arts

Maximalism

Maximalism is a term used in the arts, including literature, visual art, music, and multimedia. It is used to explain a movement or trend by encompassing all factors under a multi-purpose umbrella term like expressionism. It describes a quality of excessive redundancy oft exhibited by way of the overt accumulation of appurtenances that reflect current society. In other references the term refers to either the ostentatious displays of the extensive possessions of the super-rich or the obsessive collecting as frequently found in the behavior of garage sale shoppers who accumulate common household goods past reason. The term maximalism is sometimes associated with post-modern novels, such as by David Foster Wallace and Thomas Pynchon, where digression, reference, and elaboration of detail occupy a great fraction of the text. It can refer to anything which is excessive, overtly complex and "showy", or providing redundant overkill in features and attachments, grossness in quantity and quality and maximalism the tendency to add and accumulate to excess. The movement of maximalism in reference to the arts was founded by the artist and filmmaker Daryush Shokof in 1990 in Cologne, Germany. Maximalism vis-a-vis the arts is a new way of creating art. Many common elements are shared in the art works by artists who participate in the maximalist movement. The movement was initiated by Daryush Shokof as he wrote in his one-man show catalog of paintings at Galleria Verlato in Milano, Italy in 1990; "Unbalancing the chaos = Balance = Life = Maximalism". Shokof wrote a lengthy manifesto with the title Maximalism. It was published in different catalogues of his one-man shows, as well as the maximalists' group shows in Europe and in the US from 1990 to 1993.

Films

Shokof made his first movie, a short experimental film called Angels Are Wired, in 1991. Since then he has made over 25 short and feature length films and has written over 50 film scripts, some of which he made into movies himself.

Shokof's films have mostly been made independent of any studio contract .^{[citation needed]} His film Venussian Tabutasco was shot entirely in a glass elevator and Tenussian Vaccuvasco was shot through the windows of an apartment block.

His film, Breathful,was a gangster-comedy with an all-woman cast.it was dedicated to the rights of women worldwide and more specifically to the freedom and rights of women in his own homeland Iran. The film reflects Shokof's belief that Iran is ruled by a brutal dictatorial Islamic republic regime which ignores the many basic rights of Iranian women. His comedy feature Flushers was shot entirely in a toilet, and Wordlessness was a complete wordless feature in 2012, in Berlin, Germany.All these recent films have been shot in an Amenic Cinema style. shokof founded and developed Amenic Cinema style of filmmaking in 2012, by explaining that every Amenic film's complete script could only be written "after" the final screening version of each film.

Political activities

Daryush Shokof is an activist against the Islamic Republic of Iran. He believes this establishment is a dictatorial Regime which has brutally and inhumanely trashed all civilized values, freedom and human rights in Iran for over 30 years.

Alleged kidnapping

Shokof claimed that he was kidnapped by four terrorists in the city of Cologne, Germany, in late May 2010, and was kept for over twelve days in the hands of four Arab speaking men. German police denied his statement and told the press that this story was not verifiable, and might have been staged to attract attention.^[1][2]

Filmography

This filmography includes only films listed in IMDB.^[3]

Awards

• New York International Independent Film & Video Festival 2011
  • Best Director of a Feature Film – for Hitler’s Grave^[4]

• New York International Independent Film & Video Festival 2007 (L.A. festival)^{[citation needed]}
  • Award for Best International Director - category feature for: Breathful (2007)^[5]

• New York International Independent Film & Video Festival 2000 (Winter)^{[citation needed]}
  • Feature Film Award for Best Experimental Film - Tenussian Vacuvasco (2000)^[6]

• Locarno International Film Festival 1996
  • Nominated for Golden Leopard for: Seven Servants (1996)^[7]

References

External links

• Official website
• Daryush Shokof at the Internet Movie Database