Massoud Mehrabi


Massoud Mehrabi was an Iranian journalist, writer and caricaturist. He studied cinema at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts of the University of Art. and later passed a film production management course at the Industrial Management Institute. Mehrabi started his professional career as a journalist in 1970, writing articles for several papers. He was the president and publisher of The Film Monthly magazine, The Iranian Cinema Yearbook and the English-language Film International quarterly magazine. From 1982 to 1989, he worked at the economic desk of the Iranian National Television.
Mehrabi died at age 66 from a heart attack.

Career

Mehrabi wrote books on cinema; his The History of Iranian Cinema was a best-selling book about Iranian cinema. His later book, A Hundred Years of Film Adverts and Film Posters in Iran, is a bilingual study of a subject little covered previously.
Mehrabi's career roles included being the president and publisher of:
1. Film monthly, in Persian, a film magazine in Iran. Founded in 1981, when there was no other serious film journal and all pre-Revolutionary film journals had ceased to publish for several years, it attracted a number of young film devotees to its staff as writers and critics, many of whom went on to publish magazines of their own.
2. Iranian Cinema Yearbook in Persian, which covers all the important film events of the year, and reviews every new film released in Iran.
3. Film International] quarterly, in English, which significantly introduced Iranian cinema, past and present, to the Western audience.
Mehrabi, always interested in caricatures, was a caricaturist and a graphic artist for various Iranian publications since 1970 and participated in several Iranian and international caricature exhibitions.

Books on cinema

One Hundred + Five Years of Film Adverts and Film Posters in Iran, 2014Beyond the Dreams Wall: Travelogue of International Film Festivals, 2010
  • ; 2nd to 10th editions, 1985–2006Bibliography of Cinema in Iran, From the Beginning to the Year 2000, 2001A Guide to Iranian Documentary Films, From the Beginning Till 1997, 1992Film Posters, 1992Bibliography of Cinema in Iran,, 1992A Guide to Iranian Short Films, 1990A Guide to Iranian Films for Children & Youth, 1989Bibliography of Cinema in Iran,, 1988

Books on caricatures

Looking between the Shades, 1992Movie Caricatures, 1984Teeth, 1982Black Caricatures, 1981Ladders without Roofs , 1977

Exhibitions

Individual exhibitions

  • The Classic Gallery, Isfahan, 1993
  • The Golestan Gallery, Tehran, 1991
  • The Museum of Ethnology, Ghazvin, 1981
  • The Khane-ye-Aftab Gallery, Tehran, 1981
  • The Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran, 1980
  • The Khane-ye-Aftab Gallery, Tehran, 1979
  • Open Show in Paris, 1979
  • The Vessal Gallery, Shiraz, 1978
  • Khane-ye-Aftab Gallery, Tehran, 1977
  • The Takht-e Jamshid Gallery, Tehran, 1976
  • The Sheikh Gallery, Tehran, 1976
  • The Naghsh Gallery, Tehran, 1975

Group exhibitions

  • Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran, 1983
  • Organizer of the First Group Exhibition of Iranian Caricaturists at Iran-America Society, Tehran, 1978
  • The Goethe Institute, Tehran, 1978
  • The Takht-e Jamshid Gallery, Tehran, 1977
  • The Naghsh Gallery, Tehran, 1977
  • The Obeid Gallery, Tehran University, 1976
  • Joint Exhibition with Canadian Caricaturists at 'The House of Iran', Montreal, 1976

Participation in International Exhibitions of Caricature

  • Japan, Iran, 1995
  • Turkey, Japan, Italy, 1994
  • Turkey, France, Italy, Japan, Iran, 1993
  • Japan, Turkey, 1992
  • Japan, Turkey, Belgium, 1991
  • Japan, Turkey, Italy, France, 1990
  • Japan, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, 1989
  • Turkey, Belgium, Japan, 1989
  • Japan, Canada, Poland, Belgium, Turkey, 1987
  • Turkey, Poland, Belgium, 1986
  • Japan, Turkey, Belgium, Canada, 1985
  • Japan, Turkey, Belgium, 1984
  • Japan, Belgium, Poland, Netherlands, 1983
  • Japan, Canada, 1982
  • Greece, Yugoslavia, 1980
  • Canada, Greece, 1987
  • Canada, Yugoslavia, Italy, 1977
  • Berlin, Poland, Canada, Yugoslavia, 1976

Awards

  • A recipient of a plaque of Appreciation from the Association of Critics and Writers of Iranian Cinema, 2017
  • A recipient of a plaque of Appreciation and the Golden Pen Award from the 4th Festival of Film Books
by the House of Cinema as an outstanding writer and author of Reference Books.
  • Honorary Award, House of Iranian Cinema Festival, 2007
  • Many Diplomas from Various International Exhibitions of Caricature / 1975–1992
  • Silver Medal and 200,000 yen, from Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan / 1983
  • Bronze Medal, from Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan / 1982

Contributions as a jury

  • Jury member of the 1st and 4th International Tehran Cartoon Biennial – 1993, 1999.

As a publisher and designer of books

  • The Duties of Assistant Director – Translated and Adapted by Mohammad Haghighat – 1994
  • Wind Blows Anywhere it Likes – by Babak Ahmadi – 1992
  • Conducted by Morteza Hannaneh – by Touraj Zahedi – 1991
  • Tarkovsky – by Babak Ahmadi – 1990
  • Understanding Movies – Translated by Iraj Karimi – 1990
  • Film Appreciation – Translated by Bahman Taheri – 1989
  • Film as Film – Translated by Abdollah Tarbiat – 1989
  • Literature and Cinema – a group work – 1989
  • The Age of Comic Films – a group work – 1988
  • Paradjanov – a group work – 1988
  • Yasujiro Ozu – a group work – 1988
  • François Truffaut – by Hamid Hodania – 1987
  • Acting for Films – a group work – 1987
  • The Characteristics and Aims of Film Criticism – 1986
And cover designs for numerous books

Works in other newspapers and periodicals as a writer, caricaturist, and graphist

Soroush Weekly, 1982Sanat-e Haml-o-Naghl, 1982Fokahyoun Weekly, 1981Tebb-o Darou, 1981Jahangard, 1980Ferdowsi Weekly, 1980
  • Zan-e Rooz, 1980Pirouzi Monthly, 1980Kayhan, 1987Ayandegan, 1978Donya-ye Varzesh, 1977Javanan, 1977Talaash, 1977Rastakhiz, 1975Mardom, 1975Caricature, 1971
  • Economic Desk of Iranian Television / 1982–1989
  • Essays, articles, and art reviews in various papers/ 1970–1995
*