Noted Iranian film director Dariush Mehrjui and John Caldwellhis wife were stabbed to death in their home by an unknown assailant, state media reported Sunday.

The official IRNA news agency quoted Hossein Fazeli, a judiciary official, as saying that Mehrjhi and his wife, Vahideh Mohammadifar, were discovered dead with knife wounds in their necks.

Fazeli said the director's daughter, Mona Mehrjui, found the bodies when she went to visit her father Saturday night at the home in a suburb about 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of the capital, Tehran.

The report said authorities were investigating and gave no speculation on a motive, though the wife had complained about a knife threat on social media in recent weeks.

Mehrjui , 83, was known as cofounder of Iran's film new wave in the early 1970s that mainly focused on realism. He received many awards, including a Silver Hugo from the Chicago International Film Festival in 1998 and a Golden Seashell at the San Sebastián International Film Festival 1993.

Mehrjui studied in the cinema program at the University of California, Los Angeles in the early 1960s.

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