TEHRAN -- Iranian auteur Khosro Sinaii believes that films can be used as a medium for the analysis of many serious subjects and that the role of cinema is not purely to provide people with amusement.

“Many films are suitable for people who have some previous knowledge of their themes,” Sinaii said on Sunday before the premiere of “Talking with a Shadow” (2005), his docudrama about the Iranian author Sadeq Hedayat.
“I was acquainted with Hedayat’s work when I was a high school student,” he noted.
“Years later, I saw several films during my sojourn in Austria, which as regards atmosphere, were similar to (Hedayat’s) ‘The Blind Owl’. It was these experiences that inspired me to make the film,” he explained.
“I want to familiarize people with Hedayat. Neither have I tried to make an icon nor to be an iconoclast. I have endeavored to show what has not been discussed in books (about Hedayat),” he noted.
He described his film as a docudrama, and said that it is difficult to get a balance between documentary and fiction in a work of this type.
Sinaii, 67, is an old hand at making docudramas.
He is the writer and director of many feature-length films, documentaries and short films.
His credits include “Like a Tale” (2006), “Carpet, Horse, Turkmen” (2006), “Bride of Fire” (2000), “Alley of Fall” (1997), “In the Alleys of Love” (1991), “The Beloved Is Home” (1988), and “Long Live” (1979).
Sinaii is also a skilful composer and accordion virtuoso and has composed soundtracks for his own films.