Shafaq News/ Famous Iranian film director Dariush Mehrjoi and his wife were stabbed to death in their home by an unknown assailant, the state-run Iranian News Agency (IRNA) reported on Sunday.

IRNA quoted a judiciary officer, Hossein Fazeli, as saying that Mehrajoui and his wife, Wahida Mohammadi Far, were found dead as a result of injuries resulting from being stabbed with a knife in the neck.

Fazeli also said that the director's daughter, Mona Mehrjoi, found the two bodies when she went to visit her parents, on Saturday night, in the house located in a suburb about 30 kilometers west of the capital, Tehran.

The report stated that the authorities are investigating the incident.

The officer offered no speculation on the motive, although the wife had complained of a knife threat on social media in recent weeks.

Mehrjoi, 83 years old, was known as one of the founders of the new cinematic wave in Iran in the early 1970s, which focused mainly on realism.

Mehrjoi received many awards, including the Silver Hugo Award from the Chicago International Film Festival in 1998, and the Golden Shell Award from the San Sebastian International Film Festival in 1993.

Mehrjoui studied in the film program at the University of California, Los Angeles in the early 1960s.