Oscar Nominated Iranian director Majid Majidi officially announced on Friday February 26, during a press conference the commencement of his latest film “Mohammad”. This thirty plus million dollar production is by far the largest feature film ever produced out of Iran.

The director of award winning films such as “Children of Heaven”,  “The Color of Paradise” “Baran”, “The Songs of Sparrows”, made this announcement while in Spain during an award ceremony.

The film is about the childhood years of Mohammad, the Prophet of Islam, up to the age of twelve, well before his prophecy. The film is designed for a wide international audience of all faiths and ages focusing on a visually rich and sensitive story.

Majidi intends to recruit a highly qualified international cast and crew, and will shoot in several countries. Post production and the extensive visual effects will be bided out internationally to companies with a track record.

The screenplay was written by Kabuzia Partouvi and Mijidi, supported by an extensive team of highly qualified international historians and researchers. The first draft of the screenplay took three years, covering every historically documented detail.

The project began its pre-production in January of 2010, and has been recruiting its key crew since. The production plans to be in full force preparation by July 2010. The project entails much reconstruction of the detailed locations, which will cause an extensive pre-production period.

The film is being produced by veteran producer Mehdi Heidarian and is scheduled for worldwide distribution mid 2011