Davood Roostayi or Davoud Roustaee, was a pioneer of Iranian documentary cinema and one of the first Iranian filmmakers whose works were screened at the Berlin and Locarno Film Festivals.

Roostayi is known for Doroshkechi (1971), Ghobar neshinha (1978) and Ma mard-e jangim (1979).

He has more than 70 documentary and fiction films from before and after the 1979 revolution, none of which have been licensed for release, but confiscated, such as the feature film Dust Dwellers (Ghobar neshinha).

And due to his avoidance of publicity and journalistic hype, and apart from the first generation of filmmakers in Iranian cinema, few people know him today. The documentary "A Castle with Red Walls" by Abbas Raziji is the only film about this late filmmaker and his unseen works, which has recently been completed and is ready for release.

While a student, Roostayi made the film Baba Bozorg as his thesis, with Khosrow Sinai as his mentor. Roostayi and Sohrab Shahid Sales were Khosrow Sinai's assistants on the film "Beyond the Noise, (Ansoo-ye hayahoo, 1968)" a film about deaf teenagers and the methods of educating them at the Gardener's School.

The documentary Ayatollah Khalkhali, Abyaneh, a collection of rural documentaries from all over Iran in 26 parts, the documentary Ma Mard-e Jangim, Our Iran, Caviar, the short film Baba Bozorg, Ziarat, and a half-finished war film are among the works of this artist, parts of which have been shown in the film "A Castle with Red Walls".

He had been battling cancer for a year. He had become very weak. Finally, he passed away in absolute solitude. Everything was silent, and even in the media, his death was not widely reported. Of course, only Houshang Golmakani mentioned his death at a ceremony, and he said right there that "Davod was a documentary filmmaker who made a feature film Ghobar neshinha / Dust Dwellers, who died two or three weeks ago. Just as his name was forgotten at this ceremony, fewer than 20 people attended his funeral. Few people have seen his films, but his life story is an epic."

--Source: Shahrvand Newspaper