Egyptian Clerics against Screening of Iranian Movie ‘Muhammad (PBUH)’
The film, the first part of Iran’s big-budget trilogy on the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), is scheduled to premiere in cinemas across Iran on August 26.
It is also set to open the 39th edition of Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF) in Canada on August 27.
But some scholars in Egypt are opposed to screening the movie and have called on Iranian officials not to allow it to be screened.
They say picturing the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is Haram (religiously forbidden).
This is while Majidi has reaffirmed time and again that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) has not been pictured in the movie due to the sanctity of the sublime character of God’s last messenger.
The Oscar-nominated Iranian filmmaker’s latest movie is on the early years in the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The film does not depict Muhammad (PBUH) himself but his world, the pagan age with all its tyranny and oppression as seen through the eyes of young Muhammad (PBUH) from birth to the age of 13.
Produced by Mohammad Mehdi Heidarian, the film is set to be released in Persian, Arabic and English.
A number of internationally-acclaimed professionals, including Academy Award winning visual effects supervisor and filmmaker Scott E. Anderson, three-time Oscar-winning Italian director of photography Vittorio Storaro and renowned Croat production designer Milijen Kreka Kljakovic collaborated in making the film.
Academy Award-winning Indian music composer Allah-Rakha Rahman has written music for the movie.
Majid Majidi is an internationally and critically acclaimed Iranian film director, film producer, and screen writer whose films have touched on many themes and genres and has won many international awards.
His acclaimed film, Children of Heaven (1997), was the first Iranian film nominated for an Academy Award (Best Foreign Language Film) in 1999.
Majidi's 1999 film 'The Color of Paradise' was chosen one of the best 10 films of the year in the US in 2000.
