TEHRAN -- Iranian documentarian Sudabeh Mojaveri has recently begun making a film on paintings by Mani, Persian Iranian founder of the Manichaean religion.

The documentary has been entitled “Mani’s Drawings and the Silk Road,” she told the Persian service of ISNA on Sunday.
“The documentary, which is the outcome of my 15 years of research, comprises various sections,” Mojaveri noted.
“For one of the most important parts of the documentary, we have filmed Mani’s paintings kept at Berlin’s Dahlem Museum Center,” she explained.
“The film aims to prove that Mani’s paintings like his religious doctrines are a fusion of various schools, however his main influence is Iranian.
“The film’s structure is not mainly based on interviews with experts, but I have interviewed three experts on Manichaeism for the film.”
“Contrary to the view of many Orientalists who assume Iranian miniature is a Chinese artform, I intend to prove that Persian painting is rooted in Manichean painting, and that Iranian miniature painting is a undoubtedly a Persian artform. While it has been influenced by Chinese painting, it is deeply rooted in ancient Iranian painting.”
Mojaveri is seeking a sponsor to finance the film crew’s tour of the Silk Road and also a trip to Mani’s burial place in southern Iran.
Mojaveri’s other credits include “Inanna,” “The Day of Creation” and several other documentaries.
Manichaeism is a religion advocating a dualistic doctrine that views the world as a fusion of spirit and matter, the origin of the contrary aspects of good and evil, respectively.
Under the reign of the Sassanid king Bahram I, Mani was attacked by Zoroastrian priests and was imprisoned by the king at Gundeshapur, where he died after undergoing a trial that lasted 26 days.
Mani is thought to have been the extraordinary painter who illustrated his most important book Arjang with its colorful objects.
Photo: Sudabeh Mojaveri holds a Crystal Simorgh she won for her documentary “Inanna” at the 24th Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran on January 28, 2006.