Hamid Reza Sadr

Hamid Reza Sadr (حمیدرضا صدر, born April 19, 1956), is an Iranian football and film critic, journalist, author, historian and economist. He is well known for his publications on various subjects such as football, cinema, and non-fiction based on history and social studies.

His appearances on TV commentating football have been critical to his success and public fame in Iran. He is married to Mehrzad Dolati, and has a daughter, named Ghazaleh Sadr.Sadr's parents are Zahra Karimi and Gholamhossein Sadr. He has two brothers and two sisters. Mashid Sadr lives in London, Shahin Sadr lives in Vancouver, Amir Hossein Sadr lives in Amsterdam, and Mehrnaz Sadr lives in California. Sadr currently lives in Orange County, California near his sister, working on a new book concentrating on his immigration and life, as well as a new translation.

Business Administration in Economics - Tehran University 1980

Master of Business in Urban Planning - Tehran University 1987

Doctorate of Urban Planning - Leeds University 2000

Hamid Reza Sadr movie reviews are published in many Iranian journals since 1981 including Zan-e Rooz, Soroush, Film Magazine, Film International, and Haft or Seven magazine. He has explained his critical approach to films as "relative, not unconditional"; he analysis a film for what he feels will be its likely audience, yet he usually approaches movies emotionally, with a strongly touching writing style. He was especially cruel to some films that had been roasted by many critics, such as Bahram Beizai and Masoud Kimiai films. The originality of his opinions, as well as the vigorous way in which he spoken them, won his eager supporters as well as angry critics.

He translated 'From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies", the influential book by Molly Haskell which published in Zan-e Rooz magazine.

He haswritten a book on politics and Iranian cinema, called Iranian Cinema: A Political History. The comprehensive analysis provided in this book gives refreshing, up-to-date introduction to those interested in Iranian cinema and its socio-political dimensions and history, observing recurrent themes and genres as well as giving lights to lesser-known thematic concerns and figures. Sadr, while acknowledging the lack of imaginative expression in mainstream Iranian cinema: the weak scripts, the poor performances, the repetitive and conservative nature and content and poor performances, argues for and analysis the political contexts and its constant shifts embedded within the apparently least noteworthy of Iranian films.

Sadr was known for his monthly column called "Shadow of Imagination" {سایه خیال} appearing in FilmMagazine and his reports on international film festival particularly on London Film Festival. He interviewed many famous actors, directors and film critics including: Anthony Hopkins, Peter O'Toole, Mike Leigh, Jim Jarmusch, Carlos Saura, Andrei Konchalovsky, Peter Wollen, Laura Mulvey, Jeffrey Noel Smith, John Gillett, Sohrab Shahid-Sales and Farokh Ghafari.

He is a co-producer of Looking for Scheherazade movie, a documentary directed by Safi Yazdanian in 2003.

He is a football lover and has written several features on sociology, politics and football. His bookOnce Upon a Time Football is about politics and football but it also tells the story of the Sadr's relationship with football and sometimes relates them to his own personal life. It has been years now that he appears on the Iranian national television to talk about football matches and thus has become famous among people.

Books

• Comedy Cinema (Tehran, 1987,Film Publication)
• Iranian Cinema: A Political History (Tehran, 2001, Ney Publications)
• Against the Wind: Politics of Iranian Cinema (Tehran, 2002, Zarrin Publications)
• Iranian Cinema: A Political History (London, 2006, I.B. Tauris)
• Once Upon a Time Football (Tehran, 2000, Avige Publication) which is a personal review of football based on political and social events.
• A contributor in Life and Art : The New Iranian Cinema (BFI, 1999,London)
• A contributor in The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation & Identity (London, 2002, I.B. Tauris)
• The Damned Utd (Tehran, 2010, Cheshmeh Publications) which is a translation of David Peace's novel.
• Once Upon a Time Football (Tehran, 2011, Cheshmeh Publications) which is the updated version of the previous book.
• The Hot Seat (Tehran, 2012, Cheshmeh Publications)
• A Boy On The Terraces (Tehran, 2013, Cheshmeh Publication)
• You Will Die In Cairo ( Tehran, 2014, Cheshmeh Publication), non fiction and the winner of Jalal Al-E-Ahmad literature prize.
• Speak (Tehran, 2017, Cheshmeh Publication), Translation of Laurie Halse Anderson's novel.
• Three hundred twenty five (Tehran, 2017, Cheshmeh Publication), non-fiction novel.
• The Eternal Jerseys( Tehran, 2018, Cheshmeh Publication), A poetic look at the legendary football players.