The most famous directors of Iran Dariush Mehrjui and his wife were found dead. An 83-year-old man and his wife, Vahideh Mohammadifar, were found with stab wounds in their home near the capital Tehran on Saturday night, Iranian officials said. Mehrjui was considered one of the founders of Iranian new wave cinema. According to local media, four people have been identified in connection with the deaths. According to Chief Justice Hossein Fazel, Mehrjui invited his daughter to his home in the town of Karaj for dinner on Saturday evening. When he arrived, he allegedly found the bodies of his parents. Writer and costume designer Mohammadifar recently complained that he was threatened and his house broken into. Iranian actor and director Houman Seyedi was among those who reacted to the killings on social media, describing them as "horrific and cruel". Mehrjui, who studied in the United States as a youth and then lived in France for five years, first rose to national and international prominence with his film The Cow (1969), about the villagers' obsession with the aforementioned animal. Among his other notable films are Hamoun,‘The Pear Tree' and ‘Leila', the latter about an infertile woman who encourages her husband to remarry. The New Wave movement focused mostly on realism, but Mehrjui drew inspiration from literature. He has received many awards over the years, but while his films have been celebrated at international film festivals, some have barely seen the light of day due to censorship in Iran.