Feb 2016

In 1940, Karimi worked as actor,
make-up artist, and as stage
designer in various
Tehran theaters. At the beginning
of 1953, Karimi travelled to Europe
in order to complete his art
degrees. In Rome, where he spent
the first months of his stay, he
became acquainted with famous
Italian film directors Luchino
Visconti and Vittorio De Sica. The
neo-realistic films of De Sica
("The Bicycle Thief", "Miracle in
Milan "... ) made an impression on
him.After approximately six
months, Karimi traveled to Vienna
and finally to Prague. There he
studied film direction and TV
production, specializing in puppet
and animation movies. His most
important teacher
at The Academy of Arts in Prague
was Karl Zeman, the famous Czech
animation artist. After Prague, he
returned to Rome and stayed there
for three years. He worked as
assistant director for Vittorio De
Sica, performed on the stage,
appeared in musicals and dubbed a
number of Italian movies for
distribution in Iran.
In 1964, after eleven years in
Europe, Karimi went back to Iran.
In 1965, he was engaged by The
Ministry of Art and Culture to run
and extend the state workshop for
animated cartoons. A little later,
Karimi began his activity as
professor at The Faculty of Fine Arts
at Tehran University, as well as at
The Academy of the Dramatic Arts,
where he taught different art styles
for more than twenty years.
At the same period, Karimi
produced two TV series: "Mr.
Plaintiff", a puppet show and "The
Marriage", a twenty-part family
series about married life. Through
these popular series, Karimi
became known to a wide section of
society of Iran.In 1969, Karimi
began shooting the film The Thief
and the Policeman - a Persian
adaptation of the story of cops and
robbers. However, after having
finished the film for the most part,
he gave up the direction due to
interference from the producer. In
the same year, the British director
Terence Young shot some scenes of
the film Poppy is also a Flower in
Iran. He engaged Karimi as make-up
artist for his lead Yul Bryner and
other actors.