TEHRAN -- Five people were killed and two other were seriously injured by a blast on Wednesday as a veteran special effects supervisor was preparing an explosion scene for the controversial filmmaker Masud Dehnamaki’s war drama “The Ascendants”.
The explosion took place in the Sacred Defense City, which has been established for war film projects in an area between the cities Tehran and Qom.
The special effects supervisor Mohammad-Javad Sharifi, Sacred Defense City director Ali-Akbar Ranjbar, and production assistant Reza Faraji were among the victims, a number of Persian news agencies announced.
“Iranian security officials do not allow the import of special explosive substances for film projects and consequently, Iranian special effects coordinators have to use military explosives for explosion scenes in film projects,” Abbas Shoqi, a member of the board of directors of the Special Effects Coordinators’ Society in the Iranian House of Cinema, told the Persian service of ISNA.
“We have repeatedly raised objections to the ban on the import of specialized explosive substances for film projects. However, our words have fallen on deaf ears,” he added.
MMS/YAW
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