Khosrow Sinai (January 1941 – August 2020) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, composer, poet and scholar.

Sinai's work was influenced by documentaries and focused on social and artistic subjects. "Bride of Fire" is among his best known movies, and has won multiple awards in both domestic and international film festivals.

He was the first Iranian film director to win an international prize after the 1979 revolution and has been awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

Khosrow Sinai did not make many films in the final years of his life, saying, "They won't let me make my film ... It doesn't matter what the subject of the film is, they want to exclude some people and only have a certain group of people who don't talk much."

Khosrow Sinai was born on 19 January 1941 in Sari, Mazandaran Province in north of Iran. He graduated in 1958 from Alborz High School in Tehran, and then went to Austria for further education. He spent four years studying Architecture at the Vienna University of Technology and three years study in music composition at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.

He graduated in music education from the Vienna Music Conservatory. Finally he graduated as cinema and television director (main study) and screenplay writing (subsidiary study) from Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (with honors).

After these years of study he returned to Iran in 1967 and worked in the Ministry of Culture and Arts (till 1972), and as instructor in various universities in the fields of screenplay writing and documentary film until 1992.
He also worked in National Iranian Television (now called Seda o Sima) as producer, screenplay writer, director, and editor making about 100 short films, documentaries, and features. He is best known for his Avant-garde documentaries and also his unique style in docu-drama. He has been a juror in several national and foreign film festivals.

Though Sinai is mostly known for his films, he was also a skilful composer and accordion virtuoso, and had composed soundtracks for some of his own films.

Sinai wrote the scripts for most of his pictures and also composed musical scores.

"Arus-e Atash", (Bride of Fire) was one of his most successful films in box office and won the people's choice award, and best screenplay at the 18th Fajr Film Festival. Sinai also won a Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Selected Filmography 

2006  Desert of Blood (Kavir-e Khoon)
2006  like a Story (Mesl-e Yek Ghesseh)
2006  Talking with a Shadow (Goftegoo ba Sayeh)
2000  Bride of Fire (Arous-e atash)
1997  The Autumn Alley (Kooche payiz)
1990  In the Alleys of love (Dar kouchehay-e eshq)
1983  The Lost Requiem (Marsiye-ye gomshode)
1983  The Inner Monster (Hayoola-ye daroon)
1980  “Viva ...!,” (Zendeh Bad) (Award winner, Karlovi vary Film Festival)

Published books and screenplays:

The Man in White, The Artists of a Bloodshedding Era, Bride of Fire (Film Script), The Post-communist Cinema (Translated from English)

Poems collection ‘Muds Blisters” (1963)

Translation from German: My Journey and Adventures in Iran, a book by Armin Vambery (1863), under press
 
Writing and translating numerous essays about cinema and other fine arts.