‘Ballad of a White Cow’ Producer Gholamreza Moosavi in Intensive Care in Iran Due to COVID-19

Nick Vivarelli
·1 min read
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Prominent Iranian producer Gholamreza Moosavi, whose latest film is Berlin standout “Ballad of a White Cow,” has been hospitalized in Tehran due to COVID-19, London-based Iran International TV has reported.

Moosavi, 69, who is president of Iran’s film producers’ union and also heads Film Iran, which is the country’s largest domestic distributor, is in an intensive care unit of Tehran’s private Nikan Hospital due to coronavirus, Iran International said in a statement.

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Last month French distributor Totem Films sold “Ballad of a White Cow” – the Berlin competition title co-directed by Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghaddam about a woman’s struggle for justice, recognition and independence in today’s Tehran – to a slew of European territories. The pic was produced by Moosavi and French producer Etienne de Ricaud.

Moosavi’s other producer credits comprise social dramas “Hatred,” directed by Reza Dormishain, which went to several international festivals; “Last Theft” by Pedram Alizadeh; and “I Am a Mother” by Fereydoun Jeyrani.

Iran is battling the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East and lags behind in terms of vaccination with only some 200,000 vaccine doses administered in the country of 84 million, according to the World Health Organization. COVAX, an international collaboration to deliver the vaccine equitably across the world, on Monday reportedly delivered its first shipment to Iran consisting of 700,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine doses.

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