title: Zoroastrianism

text: Due to its ties to the Christian Roman Empire, Persia's arch-rival since Parthian times, the Sassanids were suspicious of Roman Christianity, and after the reign of Constantine the Great, sometimes persecuted it. The Sassanid authority clashed with their Armenian subjects in the Battle of Avarayr ( 451), making them officially break with the Roman Church. But the Sassanids tolerated or even sometimes favored the Christianity of the Church of the East. The acceptance of Christianity in Georgia (Caucasian Iberia) saw the Zoroastrian religion there slowly but surely decline, but as late the 5th century it was still widely practised as something like a second established religion.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Most of the Sasanian Empire was overthrown by the Arabs over the course of 16 years in the 7th century. Although the administration of the state was rapidly Islamicized and subsumed under the Umayyad Caliphate, in the beginning "there was little serious pressure" exerted on newly subjected people to adopt Islam. Because of their sheer numbers, the conquered Zoroastrians had to be treated as "dhimmi"s (despite doubts of the validity of this identification that persisted down the centuries), which made them eligible for protection. Islamic jurists took the stance that only Muslims could be perfectly moral, but "unbelievers might as well be left to their iniquities, so long as these did not vex their overlords." In the main, once the conquest was over and "local terms were agreed on", the Arab governors protected the local populations in exchange for tribute.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: The Arabs adopted the Sasanian tax-system, both the land-tax levied on land owners and the poll-tax levied on individuals, called "jizya", a tax levied on non-Muslims (i.e., the "dhimmi"s). In time, this poll-tax came to be used as a means to humble the non-Muslims, and a number of laws and restrictions evolved to emphasize their inferior status. Under the early orthodox caliphs, as long as the non-Muslims paid their taxes and adhered to the "dhimmi" laws, administrators were enjoined to leave non-Muslims "in their religion and their land." (Caliph Abu Bakr, qtd. in ).


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Under Abbasid rule, Muslim Iranians (who by then were in the majority) in many instances showed severe disregard for and mistreated local Zoroastrians. For example, in the 9th century, a deeply venerated cypress tree in Khorasan (which Parthian-era legend supposed had been planted by Zoroaster himself) was felled for the construction of a palace in Baghdad, away. In the 10th century, on the day that a Tower of Silence had been completed at much trouble and expense, a Muslim official contrived to get up onto it, and to call the "adhan" (the Muslim call to prayer) from its walls. This was turned into a pretext to annex the building.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Ultimately, Muslim scholars like Al-Biruni found few records left of the belief of for instance the Khawarizmians because figures like Qutayba ibn Muslim "extinguished and ruined in every possible way all those who knew how to write and read the Khawarizmi writing, who knew the history of the country and who studied their sciences." As a result, "these things are involved in so much obscurity that it is impossible to obtain an accurate knowledge of the history of the country since the time of Islam..."


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Though subject to a new leadership and harassment, the Zoroastrians were able to continue their former ways, although there was a slow but steady social and economic pressure to convert, with the nobility and city-dwellers being the first to do so, while Islam was accepted more slowly among the peasantry and landed gentry. "Power and worldly-advantage" now lay with followers of Islam, and although the "official policy was one of aloof contempt, there were individual Muslims eager to proselytize and ready to use all sorts of means to do so."


title: Zoroastrianism

text: In time, a tradition evolved by which Islam was made to appear as a partly Iranian religion. One example of this was a legend that Husayn, son of the fourth caliph Ali and grandson of Islam's prophet Muhammad, had married a captive Sassanid princess named Shahrbanu. This "wholly fictitious figure" was said to have borne Husayn a son, the historical fourth Shi'a imam, who claimed that the caliphate rightly belonged to him and his descendants, and that the Umayyads had wrongfully wrested it from him. The alleged descent from the Sassanid house counterbalanced the Arab nationalism of the Umayyads, and the Iranian national association with a Zoroastrian past was disarmed. Thus, according to scholar Mary Boyce, "it was no longer the Zoroastrians alone who stood for patriotism and loyalty to the past." The "damning indictment" that becoming Muslim was Un-Iranian only remained an idiom in Zoroastrian texts.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: With Iranian support, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads in 750, and in the subsequent caliphate government—that nominally lasted until 1258—Muslim Iranians received marked favor in the new government, both in Iran and at the capital in Baghdad. This mitigated the antagonism between Arabs and Iranians, but sharpened the distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims. The Abbasids zealously persecuted heretics, and although this was directed mainly at Muslim sectarians, it also created a harsher climate for non-Muslims.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Despite economic and social incentives to convert, Zoroastrianism remained strong in some regions, particularly in those furthest away from the Caliphate capital at Baghdad. In Bukhara (in present-day Uzbekistan), resistance to Islam required the 9th-century Arab commander Qutaiba to convert his province four times. The first three times the citizens reverted to their old religion. Finally, the governor made their religion "difficult for them in every way", turned the local fire temple into a mosque, and encouraged the local population to attend Friday prayers by paying each attendee two dirhams. The cities where Arab governors resided were particularly vulnerable to such pressures, and in these cases the Zoroastrians were left with no choice but to either conform or migrate to regions that had a more amicable administration.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: The 9th century came to define the great number of Zoroastrian texts that were composed or re-written during the 8th to 10th centuries (excluding copying and lesser amendments, which continued for some time thereafter). All of these works are in the Middle Persian dialect of that period (free of Arabic words), and written in the difficult Pahlavi script (hence the adoption of the term "Pahlavi" as the name of the variant of the language, and of the genre, of those Zoroastrian books). If read aloud, these books would still have been intelligible to the laity. Many of these texts are responses to the tribulations of the time, and all of them include exhortations to stand fast in their religious beliefs. Some, such as the "Denkard", are doctrinal defenses of the religion, while others are explanations of theological aspects (such as the Bundahishn's) or practical aspects (e.g., explanation of rituals) of it.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: In Khorasan in northeastern Iran, a 10th-century Iranian nobleman brought together four Zoroastrian priests to transcribe a Sassanid-era Middle Persian work titled "Book of the Lord" ("Khwaday Namag") from Pahlavi script into Arabic script. This transcription, which remained in Middle Persian prose (an Arabic version, by al-Muqaffa, also exists), was completed in 957 and subsequently became the basis for Firdausi's "Book of Kings". It became enormously popular among both Zoroastrians and Muslims, and also served to propagate the Sassanid justification for overthrowing the Arsacids (i.e., that the Sassanids had restored the faith to its "orthodox" form after the Hellenistic Arsacids had allowed Zoroastrianism to become corrupt).


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Among migrations were those to cities in (or on the margins of) the great salt deserts, in particular to Yazd and Kerman, which remain centers of Iranian Zoroastrianism to this day. Yazd became the seat of the Iranian high priests during Mongol Il-Khanate rule, when the "best hope for survival [for a non-Muslim] was to be inconspicuous." Crucial to the present-day survival of Zoroastrianism was a migration from the northeastern Iranian town of "Sanjan in south-western Khorasan", to Gujarat, in western India. The descendants of that group are today known as the "Parsis"—"as the Gujaratis, from long tradition, called anyone from Iran"—who today represent the larger of the two groups of Zoroastrians in India.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: The struggle between Zoroastrianism and Islam declined in the 10th and 11th centuries. Local Iranian dynasties, "all vigorously Muslim," had emerged as largely independent vassals of the Caliphs. In the 16th century, in one of the early letters between Iranian Zoroastrians and their co-religionists in India, the priests of Yazd lamented that "no period [in human history], not even that of Alexander, had been more grievous or troublesome for the faithful than 'this millennium of the demon of Wrath'."


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Zoroastrianism has survived into the modern period, particularly in India, where the Parsis are thought to have been present since about the 9th century.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Today Zoroastrianism can be divided in two main schools of thought: reformists and traditionalists. Traditionalists are mostly Parsis and accept, beside the Gathas and Avesta, also the Middle Persian literature and like the reformists mostly developed in their modern form from 19th century developments. They generally do not allow conversion to the faith and, as such, for someone to be a Zoroastrian they must be born of Zoroastrian parents. Some traditionalists recognize the children of mixed marriages as Zoroastrians, though usually only if the father is a born Zoroastrian. Reformists tend to advocate a "return" to the Gathas, the universal nature of the faith, a decrease in ritualization, and an emphasis on the faith as philosophy rather than religion. Not all Zoroastrians identify with either school and notable examples are getting traction including Neo-Zoroastrians/Revivalists, which are usually reinterpretations of Zoroastrianism appealing towards Western concerns, and centering the idea of Zoroastrianism as a living religion and advocate the revival and maintenance of old rituals and prayers while supporting ethical and social progressive reforms. Both of these latter schools tend to center the Gathas without outright rejecting other texts except the Vendidad. The Ilm-e-Khshnoom and the Pundol Group are Zoroastrian mystical schools of thought popular among a small minority of the Parsi community inspired mostly by 19th-century theosophy and typified by a spiritual ethnocentric mentality.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: From the 19th century onward, the Parsis gained a reputation for their education and widespread influence in all aspects of society. They played an instrumental role in the economic development of the region over many decades; several of the best-known business conglomerates of India are run by Parsi-Zoroastrians, including the Tata, Godrej, Wadia families, and others.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Though the Armenians share a rich history affiliated with Zoroastrianism (that eventually declined with the advent of Christianity), reports indicate that there were Zoroastrian Armenians in Armenia until the 1920s. A comparatively minor population persisted in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Persia, and a growing large expatriate community has formed in the United States mostly from India and Iran, and to a lesser extent in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: At the request of the government of Tajikistan, UNESCO declared 2003 a year to celebrate the "3000th anniversary of Zoroastrian culture", with special events throughout the world. In 2011 the Tehran Mobeds Anjuman announced that for the first time in the history of modern Iran and of the modern Zoroastrian communities worldwide, women had been ordained in Iran and North America as mobedyars, meaning women assistant mobeds (Zoroastrian clergy). The women hold official certificates and can perform the lower-rung religious functions and can initiate people into the religion.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: The religion of Zoroastrianism is closest to Vedic religion to varying degrees. Some historians believe that Zoroastrianism, along with similar philosophical revolutions in South Asia were interconnected strings of reformation against a common Indo-Aryan thread. Many traits of Zoroastrianism can be traced back to the culture and beliefs of the prehistorical Indo-Iranian period, that is, to the time before the migrations that led to the Indo-Aryans and Iranics becoming distinct peoples. Zoroastrianism consequently shares elements with the historical Vedic religion that also has its origins in that era. Some examples include cognates between the Avestan word "Ahura" ("Ahura Mazda") and the Vedic Sanskrit word "Asura" ("demon; evil demigod"); as well as "Daeva" ("demon") and "Deva" ("god") and they both descend from a common Proto-Indo-Iranian religion.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Zoroastrianism itself inherited ideas from other belief systems and, like other "practiced" religions, accommodates some degree of syncretism, with Zoroastrianism in Sogdia, the Kushan Empire, Armenia, China, and other places incorporating local and foreign practices and deities. Zoroastrian influences on Hungarian, Slavic, Ossetian, Turkic and Mongol mythologies have also been noted, all of which bearing extensive light-dark dualisms and possible sun god theonyms related to Hvare-khshaeta.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: There exist many similarities between Zoroastrianism and Abrahamic religions as pointed about already by "The Jewish Encyclopedia" (1906). While some scholars consider that key concepts of Zoroastrian dualism (good and evil; divine twins Ahura Mazda "God" and Angra Mainyu "Satan"), image of the deity, eschatology, resurrection and final judgment, messianism, revelation of Zoroaster on a mountain with Moses on Mount Sinai, three sons of Fereydun with three sons of Noah, heaven and hell, angelology and demonology, cosmology of six days or periods of creation, free will among others influenced Abrahamic religions, other scholars diminish or reject such influences. Lester L. Grabbe in 2006 concluded that "there is general agreement that Persian religion and tradition had its influence on Judaism over the centuries" and the "question is where this influence was and which of the developments in Judaism can be ascribed to the Iranian side as opposed to the effect of the Greek or other cultures". There exist distinctions but also similarities between Zoroastrian and Jewish law regarding marriage and procreation. Mary Boyce noted that besides Abrahamic religions it also had influence to the East on Northern Buddhism.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Zoroastrianism is often compared with Manichaeism. Nominally an Iranian religion, it has its origins in Middle-Eastern Gnosticism. Superficially such a comparison seems apt, as both are dualistic and Manichaeism adopted many of the Yazatas for its own pantheon. Gherardo Gnoli, in "The Encyclopaedia of Religion", says that "we can assert that Manichaeism has its roots in the Iranian religious tradition and that its relationship to Mazdaism, or Zoroastrianism, is more or less like that of Christianity to Judaism".


title: Zoroastrianism

text: But they are quite different. Manichaeism equated evil with matter and good with spirit, and was therefore particularly suitable as a doctrinal basis for every form of asceticism and many forms of mysticism. Zoroastrianism, on the other hand, rejects every form of asceticism, has no dualism of matter and spirit (only of good and evil), and sees the spiritual world as not very different from the natural one (the word "paradise", or "pairi.daeza", applies equally to both.)


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Manichaeism's basic doctrine was that the world and all corporeal bodies were constructed from the substance of Satan, an idea that is fundamentally at odds with the Zoroastrian notion of a world that was created by God and that is all good, and any corruption of it is an effect of the bad.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Many aspects of Zoroastrianism are present in the culture and mythologies of the peoples of Greater Iran, not least because Zoroastrianism was a dominant influence on the people of the cultural continent for a thousand years. Even after the rise of Islam and the loss of direct influence, Zoroastrianism remained part of the cultural heritage of the Iranian language-speaking world, in part as festivals and customs, but also because Ferdowsi incorporated a number of the figures and stories from the Avesta in his epic "Shāhnāme", which is pivotal to Iranian identity. One notable example is the incorporation of the Yazata Sraosha as an angel venerated within Shia Islam in Iran.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: The Avesta is a collection of the central religious texts of Zoroastrianism written in the old Iranian dialect of Avestan. The history of the Avesta is speculated upon in many Pahlavi texts with varying degrees of authority, with the current version of the Avesta dating at oldest from the times of the Sasanian Empire. According to Middle Persian tradition, Ahura Mazda created the twenty-one Nasks of the original Avesta which Zoroaster brought to Vishtaspa. Here, two copies were created, one which was put in the house of archives and the other put in the Imperial treasury. During Alexander's conquest of Persia, the Avesta (written on 1200 ox-hides) was burned, and the scientific sections that the Greeks could use were dispersed among themselves. However, there is no strong evidence historically towards these claims and they remain contested despite affirmations from the Zoroastrian tradition, whether it be the "Denkart", "Tansar-nāma", "Ardāy Wirāz Nāmag", "Bundahsin", "Zand i Wahman Yasn" or the transmitted oral tradition.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: As tradition continues, under the reign of King Valax (identified with a Vologases of the Arsacid Dynasty), an attempt was made to restore what was considered the Avesta. During the Sassanid Empire, Ardeshir ordered Tansar, his high priest, to finish the work that King Valax had started. Shapur I sent priests to locate the scientific text portions of the Avesta that were in the possession of the Greeks. Under Shapur II, Arderbad Mahrespandand revised the canon to ensure its orthodox character, while under Khosrow I, the Avesta was translated into Pahlavi.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: The compilation of the Avesta can be authoritatively traced, however, to the Sasanian Empire, of which only fraction survive today if the Middle Persian literature is correct. The later manuscripts all date from after the fall of the Sasanian Empire, the latest being from 1288, 590 years after the fall of the Sasanian Empire. The texts that remain today are the Gathas, Yasna, Visperad and the Vendidad, of which the latter's inclusion is disputed within the faith. Along with these texts is the individual, communal, and ceremonial prayer book called the Khordeh Avesta, which contains the Yashts and other important hymns, prayers, and rituals. The rest of the materials from the Avesta are called "Avestan fragments" in that they are written in Avestan, incomplete, and generally of unknown provenance.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Middle Persian and Pahlavi works created in the 9th and 10th century contain many religious Zoroastrian books, as most of the writers and copyists were part of the Zoroastrian clergy. The most significant and important books of this era include the Denkard, Bundahishn, Menog-i Khrad, Selections of Zadspram, Jamasp Namag, Epistles of Manucher, Rivayats, Dadestan-i-Denig, and Arda Viraf Namag. All Middle Persian texts written on Zoroastrianism during this time period are considered secondary works on the religion, and not scripture. Nonetheless, these texts have had a strong influence on the religion.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Zoroastrianism was founded by Zoroaster (or Zarathushtra) in ancient Iran. The precise date of the founding of the religion is uncertain and estimates vary wildly from 2000 BCE to "200 years before Alexander". Zoroaster was born - in either Northeast Iran or Southwest Afghanistan - into a culture with a polytheistic religion, which featured excessive animal sacrifice. and the excessive ritual use of intoxicants, and his life was influenced profoundly by the attempts of his people to find peace and stability in the face of constant threats of raiding and conflict. Zoroaster's birth and early life are little documented but speculated upon heavily in later texts. What is known is recorded in the Gathas, forming the core of the Avesta, which contain hymns thought to have been composed by Zoroaster himself. Born into the Spitama clan, he refers to himself as a poet-priest and prophet. He had a wife, three sons, and three daughters, the numbers of which are gathered from various texts.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Zoroaster rejected many of the gods of the Bronze Age Iranians and their oppressive class structure, in which the Kavis and Karapans (princes and priests) controlled the ordinary people. He also opposed cruel animal sacrifices and the excessive use of the possibly hallucinogenic Haoma plant (conjectured to have been a species of ephedra and/or "Peganum harmala"), but did not condemn either practice outright, providing moderation was observed.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: According to later Zoroastrian tradition, when Zoroaster was 30 years old, he went into the Daiti river to draw water for a Haoma ceremony; when he emerged, he received a vision of Vohu Manah. After this, Vohu Manah took him to the other six Amesha Spentas, where he received the completion of his vision. This vision radically transformed his view of the world, and he tried to teach this view to others. Zoroaster believed in one supreme creator deity and acknowledged this creator's emanations (Amesha Spenta) and other divinities which he called Ahuras (Yazata). Some of the deities of the old religion, the "Daevas" (Etymologically similar to the Sanskrit "Devas"), appeared to delight in war and strife and were condemned as evil workers of Angra Mainyu by Zoroaster.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Zoroaster's ideas were not taken up quickly; he originally only had one convert: his cousin Maidhyoimanha. The local religious authorities opposed his ideas, considering that their faith, power, and particularly their rituals were threatened by Zoroaster's teaching against the bad and overly-complicated ritualization of religious ceremonies. Many did not like Zoroaster's downgrading of the Daevas to evil ones not worthy of worship. After twelve years of little success, Zoroaster left his home.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: In the country of King Vishtaspa, the king and queen heard Zoroaster debating with the religious leaders of the land and decided to accept Zoroaster's ideas as the official religion of their kingdom after having Zoroaster prove himself by healing the king's favorite horse. Zoroaster is believed to have died in his late 70s, either by murder by a Turanian or old age. Very little is known of the time between Zoroaster and the Achaemenian period, except that Zoroastrianism spread to Western Iran and other regions. By the time of the founding of the Achaemenid Empire, Zoroastrianism is believed to have been already a well-established religion.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: The Cypress of Kashmar is a mythical cypress tree of legendary beauty and gargantuan dimensions. It is said to have sprung from a branch brought by Zoroaster from Paradise and to have stood in today's Kashmar in northeastern Iran and to have been planted by Zoroaster in honor of the conversion of King Vishtaspa to Zoroastrianism. According to the Iranian physicist and historian Zakariya al-Qazwini King Vishtaspa had been a patron of Zoroaster who planted the tree himself. In his "ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt", he further describes how the Al-Mutawakkil in 247 AH (861 AD) caused the mighty cypress to be felled, and then transported it across Iran, to be used for beams in his new palace at Samarra. Before, he wanted the tree to be reconstructed before his eyes. This was done in spite of protests by the Iranians, who offered a very great sum of money to save the tree. Al-Mutawakkil never saw the cypress, because he was murdered by a Turkish soldier (possibly in the employ of his son) on the night when it arrived on the banks of the Tigris.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Kashmar Fire Temple was the first Zoroastrian fire temple built by Vishtaspa at the request of Zoroaster in Kashmar. In a part of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, the story of finding Zarathustra and accepting Vishtaspa's religion is regulated that after accepting Zoroastrian religion, Vishtaspa sends priests all over the universe And Azar enters the fire temples (domes) and the first of them is Adur Burzen-Mihr who founded in Kashmar and planted a cypress tree in front of the fire temple and made it a symbol of accepting the Bahi religion And he sent priests all over the world, and commanded all the famous men and women to come to that place of worship.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: According to the Paikuli inscription, during the Sasanian Empire, Kashmar was part of Greater Khorasan, and the Sasanians worked hard to revive the ancient religion. It still remains a few kilometers above the ancient city of Kashmar in the castle complex of Atashgah.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Humata, Huxta, Huvarshta (Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds), the Threefold Path of Asha, is considered the core maxim of Zoroastrianism especially by modern practitioners. In Zoroastrianism, good transpires for those who do righteous deeds for its own sake, not for the search of reward. Those who do evil are said to be attacked and confused by the druj and are responsible for aligning themselves back to Asha by following this path.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: In Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda is the beginning and the end, the creator of everything that can and cannot be seen, the eternal and uncreated, the all-good and source of Asha. In the Gathas, the most sacred texts of Zoroastrianism thought to have been composed by Zoroaster himself, Zoroaster acknowledged the highest devotion to Ahura Mazda, with worship and adoration also given to Ahura Mazda's manifestations (Amesha Spenta) and the other ahuras (Yazata) that support Ahura Mazda.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: "Daena" ("din" in modern Persian and meaning "that which is seen") is representative of the sum of one's spiritual conscience and attributes, which through one's choice Asha is either strengthened or weakened in the Daena. Traditionally, the , spiritual prayer formulas, are believed to be of immense power and the vehicles of Asha and creation used to maintain good and fight evil. "Daena" should not be confused with the fundamental principle of "Asha", believed to be the cosmic order which governs and permeates all existence, and the concept of which governed the life of the ancient Indo-Iranians. For these, "asha" was the course of everything observable—the motion of the planets and astral bodies; the progression of the seasons; and the pattern of daily nomadic herdsman life, governed by regular metronomic events such as sunrise and sunset, and was strengthened through truth-telling and following the Threefold Path.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: All physical creation ("getig") was thus determined to run according to a master plan—inherent to Ahura Mazda—and violations of the order ("druj") were violations against creation, and thus violations against Ahura Mazda. This concept of "asha" versus the "druj" should not be confused with Western and especially Abrahamic notions of good versus evil, for although both forms of opposition express moral conflict, the "asha" versus "druj" concept is more systemic and less personal, representing, for instance, chaos (that opposes order); or "uncreation", evident as natural decay (that opposes creation); or more simply "the lie" (that opposes truth and goodness). Moreover, in the role as the one uncreated creator of all, Ahura Mazda is not the creator of "druj", which is "nothing", anti-creation, and thus (likewise) uncreated and developed as the antithesis of existence through choice.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: In this schema of "asha" versus "druj", mortal beings (both humans and animals) play a critical role, for they too are created. Here, in their lives, they are active participants in the conflict, and it is their spiritual duty to defend Asha, which is under constant assault and would decay in strength without counter"action". Throughout the Gathas, Zoroaster emphasizes deeds and actions within society and accordingly extreme asceticism is frowned upon in Zoroastrianism but moderate forms are allowed within.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Central to Zoroastrianism is the emphasis on moral choice, to choose the responsibility and duty for which one is in the mortal world, or to give up this duty and so facilitate the work of "druj". Similarly, predestination is rejected in Zoroastrian teaching and the absolute free will of all conscious beings is core, with even divine beings having the ability to choose. Humans bear responsibility for all situations they are in, and in the way they act toward one another. Reward, punishment, happiness, and grief all depend on how individuals live their lives.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: In the 19th century, through contact with Western academics and missionaries, Zoroastrianism experienced a massive theological change that still affects it today. The Rev. John Wilson led various missionary campaigns in India against the Parsi community, disparaging the Parsis for their "dualism" and "polytheism" and as having unnecessary rituals while declaring the Avesta to not be "divinely inspired". This caused mass dismay in the relatively uneducated Parsi community, which blamed its priests and led to some conversions towards Christianity.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: The arrival of the German orientalist and philologist Martin Haug led to a rallied defense of the faith through Haug's reinterpretation of the Avesta through Christianized and European orientalist lens. Haug postulated that Zoroastrianism was solely monotheistic with all other divinities reduced to the status of angels while Ahura Mazda became both omnipotent and the source of evil as well as good. Haug's thinking was subsequently disseminated as a Parsi interpretation, thus corroborating Haug's theory, and the idea became so popular that it is now almost universally accepted as doctrine (though being reevaluated in modern Zoroastrianism and academia). It has been argued by Dr Almut Hintze that this designation of monotheism is not wholly perfect and that Zoroastrianism instead has its "own form of monotheism" which combines elements of dualism and polytheism. It has otherwise been opined that Zoroastrianism is totally monotheistic with only dualistic elements.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Throughout Zoroastrian history, shrines and temples have been the focus of worship and pilgrimage for adherents of the religion. Early Zoroastrians were recorded as worshiping in the 5th century BCE on mounds and hills where fires were lit below the open skies. In the wake of Achaemenid expansion, shrines were constructed throughout the empire and particularly influenced the role of Mithra, Aredvi Sura Anahita, Verethragna and Tishtrya, alongside other traditional Yazata who all have hymns within the Avesta and also local deities and culture-heroes. Today, enclosed and covered fire temples tend to be the focus of community worship where fires of varying grades are maintained by the clergy assigned to the temples.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: According to the Zoroastrian creation myth, Ahura Mazda existed in light and goodness above, while Angra Mainyu existed in darkness and ignorance below. They have existed independently of each other for all time, and manifest contrary substances. Ahura Mazda first manifested seven divine beings called "Amesha Spentas", who support him and represent beneficent aspects of personality and creation, along with numerous "Yazatas", divinities worthy of worship. Ahura Mazda then created the material and visible world itself in order to ensnare evil. Ahura Mazda created the floating, egg-shaped universe in two parts: first the spiritual ("menog") and 3,000 years later, the physical ("getig"). Ahura Mazda then created Gayomard, the archetypical perfect man, and Gavaevodata, the primordial bovine.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: While Ahura Mazda created the universe and humankind, Angra Mainyu, whose very nature is to destroy, miscreated demons, evil "daevas", and noxious creatures ("khrafstar") such as snakes, ants, and flies. Angra Mainyu created an opposite, evil being for each good being, except for humans, which he found he could not match. Angra Mainyu invaded the universe through the base of the sky, inflicting Gayomard and the bull with suffering and death. However, the evil forces were trapped in the universe and could not retreat. The dying primordial man and bovine emitted seeds, which were protect by Mah, the Moon. From the bull's seed grew all beneficial plants and animals of the world and from the man's seed grew a plant whose leaves became the first human couple. Humans thus struggle in a two-fold universe of the material and spiritual trapped and in long combat with evil. The evils of this physical world are not products of an inherent weakness, but are the fault of Angra Mainyu's assault on creation. This assault turned the perfectly flat, peaceful, and ever day-lit world into a mountainous, violent place that is half night.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Zoroastrianism also includes beliefs about the renovation of the world (Frashokereti) and individual judgment (cf. general and particular judgment), including the resurrection of the dead, which are alluded to in the Gathas but developed in later Avestan and Middle Persian writings.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Individual judgment at death is at the Chinvat Bridge ("bridge of judgement" or "bridge of choice"), which each human must cross, facing a spiritual judgment, though modern belief is split as to whether it is representative of a mental decision during life to choose between good and evil or an afterworld location. Humans' actions under their free will through choice determine the outcome. According to tradition, the soul is judged by the Yazatas Mithra, Sraosha, and Rashnu, where depending on the verdict one is either greeted at the bridge by a beautiful, sweet-smelling maiden or by an ugly, foul-smelling old hag representing their Daena affected by their actions in life. The maiden leads the dead safely across the bridge, which widens and becomes pleasant for the righteous, towards the House of Song. The hag leads the dead down a bridge that narrows to a razor's edge and is full of stench until the departed falls off into the abyss towards the House of Lies. Those with a balance of good and evil go to Hamistagan, a purgatorial realm mentioned in the 9th century work "Dadestan-i Denig".


title: Zoroastrianism

text: The House of Lies is considered temporary and reformative; punishments fit the crimes, and souls do not rest in eternal damnation. Hell contains foul smells and evil food, a smothering darkness, and souls are packed tightly together although they believe they are in total isolation.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: In ancient Zoroastrian eschatology, a 3,000-year struggle between good and evil will be fought, punctuated by evil's final assault. During the final assault, the sun and moon will darken and humankind will lose its reverence for religion, family, and elders. The world will fall into winter, and Angra Mainyu's most fearsome miscreant, Azi Dahaka, will break free and terrorize the world.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: According to legend, the final savior of the world, known as the Saoshyant, will be born to a virgin impregnated by the seed of Zoroaster while bathing in a lake. The Saoshyant will raise the dead—including those in all afterworlds—for final judgment, returning the wicked to hell to be purged of bodily sin. Next, all will wade through a river of molten metal in which the righteous will not burn but through which the impure will be completely purified. The forces of good will ultimately triumph over evil, rendering it forever impotent but not destroyed. The Saoshyant and Ahura Mazda will offer a bull as a final sacrifice for all time and all humans will become immortal. Mountains will again flatten and valleys will rise; the House of Song will descend to the moon, and the earth will rise to meet them both. Humanity will require two judgments because there are as many aspects to our being: spiritual ("menog") and physical ("getig"). Thus, Zoroastrianism can be said to be a universalist religion with respect to salvation in that all souls are redeemed at the final judgement.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: The central ritual of Zoroastrianism is the Yasna, which is a recitation of the eponymous book of the Avesta and sacrificial ritual ceremony involving Haoma. Extensions to the Yasna ritual are possible through use of the Visperad and Vendidad, but such an extended ritual is rare in modern Zoroastrianism. The Yasna itself descended from Indo-Iranian sacrificial ceremonies and animal sacrifice of varying degrees are mentioned in the Avesta and are still practiced in Zoroastrianism albeit through reduced forms such as the sacrifice of fat before meals. High rituals such as the Yasna are considered to be the purview of the Mobeds with a corpus of individual and communal rituals and prayers included in the Khordeh Avesta. A Zoroastrian is welcomed into the faith through the Navjote/Sedreh Pushi ceremony, which is traditionally conducted during the later childhood or pre-teen years of the aspirant, though there is no defined age limit for the ritual. After the ceremony, Zoroastrians are encouraged to wear their sedreh (ritual shirt) and kusti (ritual girdle) daily as a spiritual reminder and for mystical protection, though reformist Zoroastrians tend to only wear them during festivals, ceremonies, and prayers.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: The incorporation of cultural and local rituals is quite common and traditions have been passed down in historically Zoroastrian communities such as herbal healing practices, wedding ceremonies, and the like. Traditionally, Zoroastrian rituals have also included shamanic elements involving mystical methods such as spirit travel to the invisible realm and involving the consumption of fortified wine, Haoma, mang, and other ritual aids. Historically, Zoroastrians are encouraged to pray the five daily Gāhs and to maintain and celebrate the various holy festivals of the Zoroastrian calendar, which can differ from community to community. Zoroastrian prayers, called , are conducted usually with hands outstretched in imitation of Zoroaster's prayer style described in the Gathas and are of a reflectionary and supplicant nature believed to be endowed with the ability to banish evil. Devout Zoroastrians are known to cover their heads during prayer, either with traditional topi, scarves, other headwear, or even just their hands. However, full coverage and veiling which is traditional in Islamic practice is not a part of Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrian women in Iran wear their head coverings displaying hair and their faces to defy mandates by the Islamic Republic of Iran.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Zoroastrian communities internationally tend to comprise mostly two main groups of people: Indian Parsis and Iranian Zoroastrians. According to a study in 2012 by the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America, the number of Zoroastrians worldwide was estimated to be between 111,691 and 121,962. The number is imprecise because of diverging counts in Iran.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Iran's figures of Zoroastrians have ranged widely; the last census (1974) before the revolution of 1979 revealed 21,400 Zoroastrians.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Some 10,000 adherents remain in the Central Asian regions that were once considered the traditional stronghold of Zoroastrianism, i.e., Bactria (see also Balkh), which is in Northern Afghanistan; Sogdiana; Margiana; and other areas close to Zoroaster's homeland. In Iran, emigration, out-marriage and low birth rates are likewise leading to a decline in the Zoroastrian population. Zoroastrian groups in Iran say their number is approximately 60,000. According to the Iranian census data from 2011 the number of Zoroastrians in Iran was 25,271.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: Communities exist in Tehran, as well as in Yazd, Kerman and Kermanshah, where many still speak an Iranian language distinct from the usual Persian. They call their language Dari (not to be confused with the Dari of Afghanistan). Their language is also called "Gavri" or "Behdini", literally "of the Good Religion". Sometimes their language is named for the cities in which it is spoken, such as "Yazdi" or "Kermani". Iranian Zoroastrians were historically called "Gabr"s, originally without a pejorative connotation but in the present-day derogatorily applied to all non-Muslims.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: The number of Kurdish Zoroastrians, along with those of non-ethnic converts, has been estimated differently. The Zoroastrian Representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq has claimed that as many as 100,000 people in Iraqi Kurdistan have converted to Zoroastrianism recently, with community leaders repeating this claim and speculating that even more Zoroastrians in the region are practicing their faith secretly. However, this has not been confirmed by independent sources.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: The surge in Kurdish Muslims converting to Zoroastrianism is largely attributed to disillusionment with Islam after experiencing violence and oppression perpetrated by ISIS in the area.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: India is considered to be home to a large Zoroastrian population - the descendants of migrants from Iran and today known as the Parsis. In India's 2001 census, the Parsi population numbered at 69,601, representing about 0.006% of the total population of India, with a concentration in and around the city of Mumbai. Due to a low birth rate and high rate of emigration, demographic trends project that by 2020 the Parsis will number only about 23,000 or 0.002% of the total population of India. By 2008, the birth-to-death ratio was 1:5; 200 births per year to 1,000 deaths. India's 2011 Census recorded 57,264 Parsi Zoroastrians.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: In Pakistan, the Zoroastrian population was estimated to number 1,675 people in 2012, mostly living in Sindh (especially Karachi) followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) of Pakistan claimed that there were 3,650 Parsi voters during the elections in Pakistan in 2013 and 4,235 in 2018.


title: Zoroastrianism

text: North America is thought to be home to 18,000–25,000 Zoroastrians of both South Asian and Iranian background. A further 3,500 live in Australia (mainly in Sydney). As of 2012, the population of Zoroastrians in USA was 15,000, making it the third-largest Zoroastrian population in the world after those of India and Iran. It has been claimed that 3,000 Kurds have converted to Zoroastrianism in Sweden. In 2020, Historic England published "A Survey of Zoroastrianism Buildings in England" with the aim of providing information about buildings that Zoroastrians use in England so that HE can work with communities to enhance and protect those buildings now and in the future. The scoping survey identified four buildings in England.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five Academy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, two Palmes d'Or, and a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA).


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: After directing "The Rain People" in 1969, Coppola co-wrote "Patton" (1970), which earned him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay along with Edmund H. North. Coppola's reputation as a filmmaker was cemented with the release of "The Godfather" (1972), which revolutionized the gangster genre of filmmaking, receiving strong commercial and critical reception. "The Godfather" won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay (shared with Mario Puzo). His film "The Godfather Part II" (1974) became the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Highly regarded by critics, the film gained Coppola three more Academy Awards: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture, making him the second director (after Billy Wilder) to win these three awards for the same film.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Also in 1974, he released the thriller "The Conversation", which received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. His next film, the war epic "Apocalypse Now" (1979), which had a , was widely acclaimed for vividly depicting the Vietnam War. It also won the Palme d'Or, making Coppola one of only nine filmmakers to have won the award twice. Other notable films Coppola has released since the start of the 1980s include the dramas "The Outsiders" and "Rumble Fish" (both 1983), "The Cotton Club" (1984), "Peggy Sue Got Married" (1986), "The Godfather Part III" (1990), "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992), and "The Rainmaker" (1997).


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Many of Coppola's relatives and children have become popular actors and filmmakers in their own right: his sister Talia Shire is an actress, his daughter Sofia and granddaughter Gia are directors, his son Roman is a screenwriter, and his nephews Jason Schwartzman and Nicolas Cage are actors. Coppola resides in Napa, California, and since the 2010s has been a vintner, owning a family-branded winery and a winery of his own.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Francis Ford Coppola was born in Detroit, Michigan, to father Carmine Coppola (1910–1991), a flutist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and mother Italia Coppola (née Pennino; 1912–2004). He was born into a family of Italian immigrants. His paternal grandparents came to the United States from Bernalda, Basilicata. His maternal grandfather, popular Italian composer Francesco Pennino, emigrated from Naples, Italy. At the time of Coppola's birth, his father—in addition to being a flutist—was an arranger and assistant orchestra director for "The Ford Sunday Evening Hour", an hour-long concert music radio series sponsored by the Ford Motor Company. Coppola was born at Henry Ford Hospital, and those two connections to Henry Ford inspired the Coppolas to choose the middle name "Ford" for their son.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Francis is the middle of three children: his older brother was August Coppola and his younger sister is actress Talia Shire.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Two years after Coppola's birth, his father was named principal flutist for the NBC Symphony Orchestra, and the family moved to New York. They settled in Woodside, Queens, where Coppola spent the remainder of his childhood.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Having contracted polio as a boy, Coppola was bedridden for large periods of his childhood, during which he did homemade puppet theater productions. He developed an interest in theater after reading "A Streetcar Named Desire" at age 15. He created 8 mm feature films edited from home movies with titles such as "The Rich Millionaire" and "The Lost Wallet". Although Coppola was a mediocre student, his interest in technology and engineering earned him the childhood nickname "Science". He trained initially for a career in music and became proficient in the tuba, eventually earning a music scholarship to the New York Military Academy. In all, Coppola attended 23 schools before he eventually graduated from Great Neck North High School.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: He entered Hofstra College in 1955 as a theater arts major. There, he was awarded a scholarship in playwriting. This furthered his interest in directing theater, though his father disapproved and wanted him to study engineering. Coppola was profoundly impressed by Sergei Eisenstein's film "", especially the quality of its editing, and decided to pursue cinema rather than theater. He said he was influenced to become a writer by his brother August. Coppola also credits the work of Elia Kazan for influencing him as a writer and director. Coppola's classmates at Hofstra included James Caan, Lainie Kazan, and radio artist Joe Frank. He later cast Lainie Kazan in "One from the Heart" and Caan in "The Rain People", "The Godfather", and "Gardens of Stone".


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: While pursuing his bachelor's degree, Coppola was elected president of the university's drama group The Green Wig, and its musical comedy club, the Kaleidoscopians. He merged the two groups into The Spectrum Players, and under his leadership, the group staged a new production each week. Coppola also founded the cinema workshop at Hofstra and contributed prolifically to the campus literary magazine. He won three D. H. Lawrence Awards for theatrical production and direction and received a Beckerman Award for his outstanding contributions to the school's theater arts division. While a graduate student, Coppola studied under professor Dorothy Arzner, whose encouragement was later acknowledged as pivotal to Coppola's career.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: After earning his theater arts degree from Hofstra in 1960, Coppola enrolled in UCLA Film School. There, he directed a short horror film, "The Two Christophers", inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's "William Wilson" and "Ayamonn the Terrible", a film about a sculptor's nightmares coming to life. He also met undergraduate film major Jim Morrison, future frontman of The Doors. Coppola later used Morrison's song "The End" in "Apocalypse Now".


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In the early 1960s, Coppola made $10 a week. Looking for a way to earn some extra money, he found that many colleagues from film school made money filming erotic productions known as "nudie-cuties" or "skin flicks", which showed nudity without implying any sexual act.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: At 21, Coppola wrote the script for "The Peeper," a comedy short film about a voyeur who tries to spy on a sensual photo shoot in the studio next to his apartment. Coppola found an interested producer, who gave him $3,000 to shoot the film. He hired Playboy Bunny Marli Renfro to play the model and had his friend Karl Schanzer to play the voyeur. With "The Peeper" finished, Coppola found that the cartoonish aspects of the film alienated potential buyers, who did not find the 12-minute short exciting enough to screen in adult theaters.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: After much rejection, Coppola received an opportunity from Premier Pictures Company, a small production company that invested in an adult production called "The Wide Open Spaces," an erotic western written and directed by Jerry Schafer, which had been shelved for more than a year. Both Schafer's film and "The Peeper" featured Marli Renfro, so the producers paid Coppola $500 to combine the two films. After Coppola re-edited the picture, it was released in 1962 as the softcore comedy "Tonight for Sure".


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Another production company, Screen Rite Pictures, hired Coppola to do a similar job: re-cutting a German film titled "" ("Sin Began with Eve"), directed by Fritz Umgelter. Coppola added new color footage with British model June Wilkinson and other nude starlets. The re-edited film was released as "The Bellboy and the Playgirls".


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Some years later, Roger Corman hired Coppola as an assistant. Corman first tasked Coppola with dubbing and re-editing the Soviet science fiction film "Nebo zovyot", which Coppola turned into the sex-and-violence monster movie "Battle Beyond the Sun", which was released in 1962. Impressed by Coppola's perseverance and dedication, Corman hired him as a dialogue director for "Tower of London" (1962), sound man for "The Young Racers" (1963) and associate producer and one of many uncredited directors for "The Terror" (1963).


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola's first feature-length film was "Dementia 13" (1963). While on location in Ireland for "The Young Racers" in 1963, Corman persuaded Coppola to use that film's leftover funds to make a low-budget horror movie. Coppola wrote a brief draft in one night, incorporating elements from Hitchcock's "Psycho", and the result impressed Corman enough to give the go-ahead. On a budget of $40,000 ($20,000 from Corman and $20,000 from another producer who wanted to buy the movie's English rights), Coppola directed "Dementia 13" over the course of nine days. The film recouped its expenses and later became a cult film among horror buffs. It was on the set of "Dementia 13" that Coppola met his future wife, Eleanor Jessie Neil.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 1965, Coppola won the annual Samuel Goldwyn Award for best screenplay ("Pilma, Pilma") written by a UCLA student. The honor secured him a job as a scriptwriter with Seven Arts. During this time, Coppola also co-wrote the scripts for "This Property Is Condemned" (1966) and "Is Paris Burning?" (1966).


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola bought the rights to the David Benedictus novel "You're a Big Boy Now" and merged it with a story idea of his own, resulting in his UCLA thesis project "You're a Big Boy Now" (1966), which earned Coppola his Master of Fine Arts Degree from UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in 1967. The film also received a theatrical release via Warner Bros and earned critical acclaim. Geraldine Page was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award for her performance.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Following the success of "You're a Big Boy Now", Coppola was offered to work on movie version of the Broadway musical "Finian's Rainbow", starring Petula Clark in her first American film and veteran Fred Astaire. Producer Jack L. Warner was not impressed by Coppola's shaggy-haired, bearded, "hippie" appearance and generally left him to his own devices. Coppola took the cast to the Napa Valley for much of the outdoor shooting, but those scenes were in sharp contrast to those filmed on a Hollywood soundstage, resulting in a disjointed look to the film. Dealing with outdated material at a time when the popularity of film musicals was already waning, Clark received a Golden Globe Best Actress nomination. The film introduced Coppola to George Lucas, who became his lifelong friend as well as a production assistant in his next film "The Rain People" in 1969.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: "The Rain People" was written, directed, and initially produced by Coppola himself, though as the movie advanced, he exceeded his budget and the studio had to underwrite the remainder of the movie. The film won the Golden Shell at the 1969 San Sebastian Film Festival.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 1969, Coppola wanted to subvert the studio system, which he felt had stifled his visions, intending to produce mainstream pictures to finance off-beat projects and give first-time directors a chance. He decided name his future studio "Zoetrope" after receiving a gift of zoetropes from Mogens Scot-Hansen, founder of a studio called Lanterna Film and owner of a famous collection of early motion picture-making equipment. While touring Europe, Coppola was introduced to alternative filmmaking equipment and, inspired by the bohemian spirit of Lanterna Film, decided he would build a deviant studio that would conceive and implement unconventional approaches to filmmaking. Upon his return home, Coppola and George Lucas searched for a mansion in Marin County to house the studio. However, in 1969, with equipment flowing in and no mansion found yet, the first home for Zoetrope Studio became a warehouse in San Francisco on Folsom Street. The studio went on to become an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV. In his 1968 book "The American Cinema", Andrew Sarris wrote, "[Coppola] is probably the first reasonably talented and sensibly adaptable directorial talent to emerge from a university curriculum in film-making ... [He] may be heard from more decisively in the future."


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola was at the forefront of a group of filmmakers known as "New Hollywood" that emerged in the early 1970s, with ideas that challenged conventional filmmaking. The group included Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Terrence Malick, Robert Altman, Woody Allen, William Friedkin, Philip Kaufman, and George Lucas.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola co-wrote the script for "Patton" in 1970 along with Edmund H. North. This earned him his first Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. However, it was not easy for Coppola to convince Franklin J. Schaffner that the opening scene would work. Coppola later revealed in an interview,


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: When the title role was offered to George C. Scott, he remembered having read Coppola's screenplay earlier. He stated flatly that he would accept the part only if they used Coppola's script. "Scott is the one who resurrected my version," said Coppola.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: The movie opens with Scott's rendering of Patton's famous military "Pep Talk" to members of the Third Army, set against a huge American flag. Coppola and North had to tone down Patton's actual language to avoid an R rating; in the opening monologue, the word "fornicating" replaced "fucking" when criticizing "The Saturday Evening Post". Over the years, this opening monologue has become an iconic scene and has spawned parodies in numerous films, political cartoons, and television shows.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: The release of "The Godfather" in 1972 was a cinematic milestone. The near three hour-long epic, a film treatment of Mario Puzo's New York Times-bestselling novel "The Godfather", chronicling the saga of the Corleone family, received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and got Coppola the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, which he shared with Mario Puzo, as well as Golden Globe Awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay. However, Coppola faced several difficulties while filming. He was not Paramount's first choice to direct the movie; Italian director Sergio Leone was initially offered the job but declined in order to direct his own gangster opus, "Once Upon a Time in America". Robert Evans wanted the picture to be directed by an Italian American to make the film "ethnic to the core". Evans' chief assistant Peter Bart suggested Coppola, as a director of Italian ancestry who would work for a low sum and budget after the poor reception of his latest film "The Rain People". Coppola initially turned down the job because he found Puzo's novel sleazy and sensationalist, describing it as "pretty cheap stuff". At the time, Coppola's studio American Zoetrope owed over $400,000 to Warner Bros. for budget overruns in the film "THX 1138" and, when coupled with his poor financial standing, along with advice from friends and family, Coppola reversed his initial decision and took the job. Coppola was officially announced as director of the film on September 28, 1970. He agreed to receive $125,000 and six percent of the gross rentals. Coppola later found a deeper theme for the material and decided it should be not just be a film about organized crime, but also a family chronicle and a metaphor for capitalism in America. There was disagreement between Paramount and Coppola on casting; Coppola wanted to cast Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone, though Paramount wanted either Ernest Borgnine or Danny Thomas. At one point, Coppola was told by the then-president of Paramount that "Marlon Brando will never appear in this motion picture." After pleading with the executives, Coppola was allowed to cast Brando only if he appeared in the film for much less money than his previous films, would perform a screen test, and put up a bond saying that he would not cause a delay in the production (as he had done on previous film sets). Coppola chose Brando over Ernest Borgnine on the basis of Brando's screen test, which also won over the Paramount leadership. Brando later won an Academy Award for his portrayal, which he refused to accept. Coppola would later recollect:


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: After it was released, the film received widespread praise. It went on to win multiple awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola. The film routinely features at the top in various polls for the greatest movies ever. It was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, and was ranked third, behind "Citizen Kane" and "Casablanca," on the initial AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list by the American Film Institute in 1997. It was moved up to second when the list was published again in 2007. Director Stanley Kubrick believed that "The Godfather" was possibly the greatest movie ever made and certainly the best-cast.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola's next film, "The Conversation", further cemented his position as one of the most talented auteurs of Hollywood. The movie was partly influenced by Michelangelo Antonioni's "Blowup" (1966) and generated much interest when news leaked that the film utilized the very same surveillance and wire-tapping equipment that members of the Nixon administration used to spy on political opponents prior to the Watergate scandal. Coppola insisted that this was purely coincidental, as the script for "The Conversation" was completed in the mid-1960s (before the election of Richard Nixon) and the spying equipment used in the film was developed through research and use of technical advisers and not by newspaper stories about the Watergate break-in. However, the audience interpreted the film as a reaction to both the Watergate scandal and its fallout. The movie was a critical success and got Coppola his first Palme d'Or at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: During the filming of "The Conversation", Coppola wrote the screenplay for "The Great Gatsby". However, in the commentary track to the DVD of "The Godfather," Coppola states, "I don't think that script was [actually] made."


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola shot "The Godfather Part II" in parallel to "The Conversation". It was the last major American motion picture to be filmed in Technicolor. George Lucas commented on the film after its five-hour-long preview, telling Coppola, "You have two films. Take one away, it doesn't work," referring to the movie's portrayal of two parallel storylines, one of a young Vito Corleone and the other of his son Michael. In the director's commentary on the DVD edition of the film (released in 2002), Coppola states that this film was the first major motion picture to use "Part II" in its title. Paramount was initially opposed to his decision to name the movie "The Godfather Part II". According to Coppola, the studio's objection stemmed from the belief that audiences would be reluctant to see a film with such a title, as the audience would supposedly believe that, having already seen "The Godfather", there was little reason to see an addition to the original film. However, the success of "The Godfather Part II" began the Hollywood tradition of numbered sequels. The movie was released in 1974 and went on to receive tremendous critical acclaim, with many deeming it superior to its predecessor. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and received six Oscars, including three for Coppola: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: "The Godfather Part II" is ranked as the No. 1 greatest movie of all time in "TV Guide" "50 Best Movies of All Time" and is ranked at No. 7 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "100 Greatest Movies of All Time". The film is also featured on movie critic Leonard Maltin's list of the "100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century" as well as Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list. It was also featured on Sight & Sound's list of the ten greatest films of all time in 2002, ranking at No. 4.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola was the third director to have two nominations for Best Picture in the same year. Victor Fleming was the first in 1939 with "Gone with the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz"; Alfred Hitchcock repeated the feat the next year with "Foreign Correspondent" and "Rebecca". Since Coppola, two other directors have done the same: Herbert Ross in 1977 with "The Goodbye Girl" and "The Turning Point," and Steven Soderbergh in 2000 with "Erin Brockovich" and "Traffic". Coppola, however, is the only one to have produced the pictures nominated.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Following the success of "The Godfather", "The Conversation", and "The Godfather Part II", Coppola began filming "Apocalypse Now", an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" set in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Coppola himself briefly cameos as a TV news director. The production of the film was plagued by numerous problems, including typhoons, nervous breakdowns, the firing of Harvey Keitel, Martin Sheen's heart attack, and extras from the Philippine military and half of the supplied helicopters leaving in the middle of scenes to fight rebels. It was delayed so often it was nicknamed "Apocalypse When?" The 1991 documentary film "", directed by Francis's wife, Eleanor Coppola, who was present through the production, Fax Bahr, and George Hickenlooper, chronicles the difficulties the crew went through making "Apocalypse Now" and features behind-the-scenes footage filmed by Eleanor. After filming "Apocalypse Now", Coppola famously stated, "We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment and little by little, we went insane."


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: The film was overwhelmingly praised by critics when it finally released in 1979 and was selected for the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, winning the Palme d'Or along with "The Tin Drum", directed by Volker Schlöndorff. When the film screened at Cannes, Coppola quipped, "My film is not about Vietnam, it is Vietnam." "Apocalypse Now" reputation has grown in time and it is now regarded by many as a masterpiece of the New Hollywood era and is frequently cited as one of the greatest movies ever made. Roger Ebert considered it to be the finest film on the Vietnam War and included it in his list for the 2002 "Sight & Sound" critics' poll of the greatest movies ever made.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 2001 Coppola re-released "Apocalypse Now" as "Apocalypse Now Redux", restoring several sequences lost from the original 1979 cut of the film, thereby expanding its length to 200 minutes. In 2019 Coppola re-released "Apocalypse Now" once more as "Apocalypse Now (Final Cut)", claiming that version to be his favorite.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: "Apocalypse Now" marked the end of the 'golden phase' of Coppola's career. His 1982 musical fantasy "One from the Heart", although pioneering the use of video-editing techniques that are standard practice in the film industry today, ended with a disastrous box-office gross of US$636,796 against a $26-million budget, and he was forced to sell the 23-acre Zoetrope Studio in 1983. He would spend the rest of the decade working to pay off his debts. Zoetrope Studios finally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990, after which its name was changed to American Zoetrope.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 1983, he directed "The Outsiders", a film adaptation of the novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton. Coppola credited his inspiration for making the film to a suggestion from middle school students who had read the novel. "The Outsiders" is notable for being the breakout film for a number of young actors who would go on to become major stars. These included major roles for Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, and C. Thomas Howell. Also in the cast were Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe (in his film debut), Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane, and Tom Cruise. Matt Dillon and several others also starred in Coppola's related film "Rumble Fish", which was also based on an S. E. Hinton novel and filmed at the same time as "The Outsiders" on-location in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Carmine Coppola wrote and edited the musical score, including the title song "Stay Gold", which was based upon a famous Robert Frost poem and performed for the movie by Stevie Wonder. The film was a moderate box-office success, grossing $25 million against a $10 million budget.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: That same year, he directed "Rumble Fish", based on the novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Shot in black-and-white as an homage to German expressionist films, "Rumble Fish" centers on the relationship between a revered former gang leader (Mickey Rourke) and his younger brother, Rusty James (Matt Dillon). The film bombed at the box office, earning a meager $2.5 million against a $10 million budget and once again aggravating Coppola's financial troubles.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 1984, Coppola directed the Robert Evans-produced "The Cotton Club". The film was nominated for several awards, including the Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Picture (Drama) and Oscars for Best Film Editing and Best Art-Direction. However, the film failed miserably at the box-office, earning only $25.9 million of the $47.9 million privately invested by brothers Fred and Ed Doumani.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: The same year, he directed an episode of Shelley Duvall's "Faerie Tale Theatre" entitled "Rip Van Winkle" (based on the short story), where Harry Dean Stanton played the lead role.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 1986, Coppola directed "Captain EO", a 17-minute space fantasy for Disney theme parks executive produced by George Lucas, starring singer Michael Jackson.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Also in 1986, Coppola released the comedy "Peggy Sue Got Married" starring Kathleen Turner, Coppola's nephew Nicolas Cage, and Jim Carrey. Much like "The Outsiders" and "Rumble Fish", "Peggy Sue Got Married" centered around teenage youth. The film earned Coppola positive feedback and provided Kathleen Turner her first and only Oscar nomination. It was Coppola's first box-office success since "The Outsiders" and the film ranked number 17 on "Entertainment Weekly"s list of "50 Best High School Movies".


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: The following year, Coppola re-teamed with James Caan for "Gardens of Stone", but the film was overshadowed by the death of Coppola's eldest son Gian-Carlo during the film's production. The movie was not a critical success and underperformed commercially, earning only $5.6 million against a $13 million budget.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola directed "" the year after that. Being a biopic based on the life of Preston Tucker and his attempt to produce and market the Tucker '48, Coppola had originally conceived the project as a musical with Marlon Brando leading after the release of "The Godfather Part II". Ultimately, it was Jeff Bridges who played the role of Preston Tucker. Budgeted at $24 million, the film received positive reviews and earned three nominations at the 62nd Academy Awards, but grossed a disappointing $19.65 million at the box office. It garnered two awards: Martin Landau won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and Dean Tavoularis took BAFTA's honors for Best Production Design.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 1989, Coppola teamed up with fellow Oscar-winning directors Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen for an anthology film called "New York Stories". Coppola directed the "Life Without Zoë" segment, starring his sister Talia Shire, and also co-wrote the film with his daughter Sofia. "Life Without Zoë" was mostly panned by critics and was generally considered to be the segment that brought the film's overall quality down. Hal Hinson of "The Washington Post" wrote a particularly scathing review, stating that "It's impossible to know what Francis Coppola's "Life Without Zoë" is. Co-written with his daughter Sofia, the film is a mystifying embarrassment; it's by far the director's worst work yet."


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 1990, he released the third and final chapter of "The Godfather" series: "The Godfather Part III". Coppola felt that the first two films had told the complete Corleone saga. Coppola intended "Part III" to be an epilogue to the first two films. In his audio commentary for "Part II", he stated that only a dire financial situation caused by the failure of "One from the Heart" (1982) compelled him to take up Paramount's long-standing offer to make a third installment. Coppola and Puzo preferred the title "The Death of Michael Corleone", but Paramount Pictures found that unacceptable. While not as critically acclaimed as the first two films, it was still commercially successful, earning $136 million against a $54 million budget. Some reviewers criticized the casting of Coppola's daughter Sofia, who stepped into the leading role of Mary Corleone, which was abandoned by Winona Ryder just as filming began. Despite this, "The Godfather Part III" went on to gather 7 Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Picture. The film failed to win any of these awards, which made it the only film in the trilogy to do so.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In September 2020, for the film's 30th anniversary, it was announced that a new cut of the film titled "Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone" would have a limited theatrical release in December 2020 followed by digital and Blu-ray. Coppola said the film is the version he and Puzo had originally envisioned, and it "vindicates" its status among the trilogy and his daughter Sofia's performance.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 1992 Coppola directed and produced "Bram Stoker's Dracula". Adapted from Bram Stoker's novel, it was intended to follow the book more closely than previous film adaptations. Coppola cast Gary Oldman as the titular role, with Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and Anthony Hopkins in supporting roles. The movie became a box-office hit, grossing $82,522,790 domestically, making it the 15th highest-grossing film of the year. It fared even better out of the country, grossing $133,339,902 for a total worldwide gross of $215,862,692 against a budget of $40 million, making it the 9th highest-grossing film of the year worldwide. The film won Academy Awards for Costume Design, Makeup and Sound Editing.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola's next project was "Jack", which was released on August 9, 1996. It starred Robin Williams as Jack Powell, a ten-year-old boy whose cells are growing at four times the normal rate due to Werner syndrome, which makes him look like a 40-year-old man at the age of ten. With Diane Lane, Brian Kerwin, and Bill Cosby, "Jack" also featured Jennifer Lopez, Fran Drescher and Michael McKean in supporting roles. Although a moderate box-office success, grossing $58 million domestically on an estimated $45 million budget, it was panned by critics, many of whom disliked the film's abrupt contrast between actual comedy and tragic melodrama. It was also unfavorably compared with the 1988 film "Big", in which Tom Hanks also played a child in a grown man's body. Most critics felt that the screenplay was poorly written, not funny, and had unconvincing and unbelievable drama. Other critics felt that Coppola was too talented to be making this type of film. Although ridiculed for making the film, Coppola has defended it, saying he is not ashamed of the final cut of the movie. He had been friends with Robin Williams for many years and had always wanted to work with him as an actor. When Williams was offered the screenplay for "Jack", he said he would only agree to do it if Coppola agreed to sign on as director.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: The last film Coppola directed in the 1990s, "The Rainmaker", was based on the 1995 novel of the same name by John Grisham. An ensemble courtroom drama, the film was well received by critics, earning an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave "The Rainmaker" three stars out of four, remarking, "I have enjoyed several of the movies based on Grisham novels ... but I've usually seen the storyteller's craft rather than the novelist's art being reflected. By keeping all of the little people in focus, Coppola shows the variety of a young lawyer's life, where every client is necessary and most of them need a lot more than a lawyer." James Berardinelli also gave the film three stars out of four, saying that "the intelligence and subtlety of "The Rainmaker" took me by surprise" and that the film "stands above any other filmed Grisham adaptation." Grisham said of the film, "To me it's the best adaptation of any of [my books] ... I love the movie. It's so well done." The film grossed about $45 million domestically, more than the estimated production budget of $40 million, but a disappointment compared to previous films adapted from Grisham novels.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In the late 1980s, Coppola started considering concepts for a motion picture based upon the 19th-century Carlo Collodi novel "The Adventures of Pinocchio", and in 1991, Coppola and Warner Bros. began discussing the project as well as two others, one involving the life of J. Edgar Hoover and the other based on the children's novel "The Secret Garden". These discussions led to negotiations for Coppola to both produce and direct the "Pinocchio" project for Warner Bros. as well as "The Secret Garden" (which was made in 1993 and produced by American Zoetrope, but directed by Agnieszka Holland) and "Hoover", which never came to fruition. (A film was eventually made by Clint Eastwood in 2011 titled "J. Edgar", which was distributed by Warner Bros.)


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: However, in mid-1991, Coppola and Warner Bros. came to a disagreement over the compensation to Coppola for his directing services on "Pinocchio". In 1994, Coppola later approached another studio, Columbia Pictures, to produce the film. Warner Brothers then wrote to Columbia, stating it had held the rights to Coppola's project, which led to Columbia later dropping the project. Coppola filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros, alleging they had wrongfully prevented Columbia Pictures from making the film.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: The parties deferred this issue and a settlement was finally reached on July 3, 1998, when the jurors in the resultant court case awarded Coppola $20 million as compensation for losing the "Pinocchio" film project. On that same day, Warner Bros. stated it would appeal the decision. A week later, Coppola was awarded a further $60 million in punitive damages on top, stemming from his charges that Warner Bros. sabotaged his intended version. However, in October 1998, then-Superior Court Judge Madeleine Flier reversed the jury's $60 million award to Coppola. Warner Bros. and Coppola then appealed each other's ruling, in which Coppola sought to have his $60 million award restored. In March 2001, the California Court of Appeals decided against Coppola on both counts. In July 2001, the California Supreme Court refused to hear the appellate decision, bringing the litigation battle to a conclusive end.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: During the filming of "Contact" on December 28, 1996, Coppola filed a lawsuit against Carl Sagan and Warner Bros. Sagan had died a week earlier, and Coppola claimed that Sagan's novel "Contact" was based on a story the pair had developed for a television special back in 1975 titled "First Contact". Under their development agreement, Coppola and Sagan were to split proceeds from the project as well as any novel Sagan would write with American Zoetrope and Children's Television Workshop Productions. The television program was never produced, but in 1985, Simon & Schuster published Sagan's "Contact" and Warner Bros. moved forward with development of a film adaptation. Coppola sought at least $250,000 in compensatory damages and an injunction against production or distribution of the film. Even though Sagan was shown to have violated some of the terms of the agreement, the case was dismissed in February 1998 because Coppola had waited too long to file suit.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In August 1999, Coppola was brought in by MGM to supervise another re-editing of the film "Supernova", costing $1 million at his American Zoetrope facility in Northern California. This work included digitally placing Angela Bassett's and James Spader's faces on the bodies of (a computer-tinted) Robin Tunney and Peter Facinelli so that their characters could have a love scene. However, Coppola's re-edited version had negative test screening and didn't get the PG-13 rating by the MPAA that the studio wanted. Creature designer Patrick Tatopoulos, whose special effects were mostly cut out from the film, said that Walter Hill wanted the film to be much more grotesque, strange, and disturbing, while MGM wanted to make it more of a hip, sexy film in space, and not with full-blown makeup effects. "I hope that my experience in the film industry has helped improve the picture and rectified some of the problems that losing a director caused", said Coppola. By October 1999, MGM decided to sell the film. The film was eventually released on January 17, 2000, almost two years later than planned.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: After a 10-year hiatus, Coppola returned to directing with "Youth Without Youth" in 2007, based on the novella of the same name by Romanian author Mircea Eliade. The film was poorly reviewed, currently holding a 30% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was made for about $19 million and had a limited release, only managing $2,624,759 at the box-office. As a result, Coppola announced his plans to produce his own films in order to avoid the marketing input that goes into most films that try to make themselves appeal to too wide an audience.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 2009, Coppola released "Tetro". It was "set in Argentina, with the reunion of two brothers. The story follows the rivalries born out of creative differences passed down through generations of an artistic Italian immigrant family." The film received generally positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average metascore of 63% based on 19 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 70% of critics gave positive reviews, based on 105 reviews, with an average score of 6.3/10. Overall, the Rotten Tomatoes consensus was: "A complex meditation on family dynamics, "Tetro" arresting visuals and emotional core compensate for its uneven narrative." Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film 3 stars, praising it for being "boldly operatic, involving family drama, secrets, generations at war, melodrama, romance and violence", Ebert also praised Vincent Gallo's performance and claimed that Alden Ehrenreich is "the new Leonardo DiCaprio". Todd McCarthy of "Variety" gave the film a B+, judging that "when Coppola finds creative nirvana, he frequently has trouble delivering the full goods". Richard Corliss of "Time" gave the film a mixed review, praising Ehrenreich's performance, but claiming Coppola "has made a movie in which plenty happens, but nothing rings true". The film made $2,636,774 worldwide, against a budget of $5,000,000.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: "Twixt", starring Val Kilmer, Elle Fanning, Joanne Whalley, and Bruce Dern, and narrated by Tom Waits, was released to film festivals in late 2011 and was released theatrically in early 2012. It received critical acclaim in France, but mostly negative reviews elsewhere.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 2015, Coppola stated"Distant Vision" is a semi-autobiographical unfinished live broadcast project created in real-time. Proof of concepts were tested before limited audiences at Oklahoma City Community College in June 2015 and UCLA School of Theater in July 2016.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In December 2020, a re-edit of "Godfather III", "The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone" had a limited theatrical release, followed by digital and Blu-ray release in 2021. Coppola stated that "The Godfather Part IV" was never made because Mario Puzo died before they had a chance to write the film. Andy García has since claimed the film's script was nearly produced.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola was the jury president at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival and he also took part as a special guest at the 17th Midnight Sun Film Festival in Sodankylä, Finland, and the 46th International Thessaloniki Film Festival in Thessaloniki, Greece.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In April 2019, Coppola announced that he plans to direct "Megalopolis", which he had been developing for many years prior. Speaking to "Deadline", he said: "I plan this year to begin my longstanding ambition to make a major work utilizing all I have learned during my long career, beginning at age 16 doing theater, and that will be an epic on a grand scale, which I've titled "Megalopolis"." He had planned to direct the movie, a story about the aftermath and reconstruction of New York City after a mega-disaster, but after the real-life disaster of the September 11 attacks, the project was seen as being too sensitive.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In August 2021, it was announced that Coppola had begun discussions with actors for the project and that he was aiming to begin principal photography in the fall of 2022. In April 2022, it was reported that filming was to take place from September 6, 2022, to February 2, 2023. In May 2022, the star cast was revealed: Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, and Laurence Fishburne. In July, it was reported that filming would instead begin in November 2022 at Trilith Studios in Fayetteville, Georgia. In August, it was revealed that Aubrey Plaza, Talia Shire, Shia LaBeouf, Jason Schwartzman, Kathryn Hunter, James Remar, and Grace VanderWaal joined the cast. In early October, it was announced that Chloe Fineman, Dustin Hoffman, Bailey Ives, Isabelle Kusman, and D.B. Sweeney would also be joining the cast.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 2012, Coppola participated in the "Sight & Sound" film polls of that year. Held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time, contemporary directors were asked to select ten films of their choice.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 1963, Coppola married writer and documentary filmmaker Eleanor Jessie Neil. She went on to co-direct "". Together they had three children, Gian-Carlo Coppola, Roman Coppola, and Sofia Coppola, all of whom became filmmakers. Gian-Carlo died at the age of 22 due to a speedboating accident in 1986. He had one child, Gia Coppola, also a filmmaker. Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzman are Coppola's nephews.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: During the 1980 United States presidential election, Coppola filmed a mass televised rally for California Governor and Democratic Party presidential candidate Jerry Brown at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison. The rally failed in its goal to draw attention away from the other Democratic primary candidates Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy, forcing Brown to drop out of the race. Over the years, Coppola has worked with several Democratic political candidates, including Mike Thompson and Nancy Pelosi for the U.S. House of Representatives and Barbara Boxer and Alan Cranston for the U.S. Senate.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola is renowned for being a financial and moral supporter of disgraced film director Victor Salva when Salva was charged with multiple child sexual abuse and child pornography offences during the production of "Clownhouse", a film Coppola produced via American Zoetrope. In a 2006 write-up, he said, "You have to remember, while this was a tragedy, that the difference in age between Victor and the boy was very small -- Victor was practically a child himself.” In actuality, Salva was 29 while the boy was 12. Coppola has continued to support Salva financially and professionally throughout the years since.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 1971, Coppola produced George Lucas' first film, "THX 1138". Shortly after completion of production they brought the finished film to Warner Bros., along with several other scripts for potential projects at their newly founded company, American Zoetrope. However, studio executives strongly disliked all of the scripts, including "THX", and demanded that Coppola repay the $300,000 they had loaned him for the Zoetrope studio, as well as insisting on cutting five minutes from the film. The debt nearly closed Zoetrope and forced Coppola to reluctantly focus on "The Godfather".


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: American Zoetrope also administers the Zoetrope Virtual Studio, a complete motion picture production studio for members only. Launched in June 2000 as the culmination of more than four years of work, it brings together departments for screenwriters, directors, producers and other filmmaker artists, as well as new departments for other creative endeavors such as the short story vending machine project.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola, with his family, expanded his business ventures to include winemaking in California's Napa Valley, when in 1975, he purchased the former home and adjoining vineyard of Gustave Niebaum in Rutherford, California using proceeds from "The Godfather". His winery produced its first vintage in 1977 with the help of his father, wife, and children stomping the grapes barefoot. Every year, the family has a harvest party to continue the tradition.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: After purchasing the property, he produced wine under the Niebaum-Coppola label. He purchased the former Inglenook Winery chateau in 1995, and renamed it to Rubicon Estate Winery in 2006. On April 11, 2011, Coppola acquired the Inglenook trademark paying more, he said, for the trademark than he did for the entire estate and announced that the estate would once again be known by its historic original name, Inglenook. Its grapes are entirely organically grown.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: George Altamura, a real estate developer, announced in 2003 that he had partnered with several people, including Coppola, in a project to restore the Uptown Theater in downtown Napa, California, in order to create a live entertainment venue.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola is the owner of Francis Ford Coppola Presents, a lifestyle brand under which he markets goods from companies he owns or controls. It includes films and videos, resorts, cafes, a literary magazine, a line of pastas and pasta sauces called Mammarella Foods, and a winery.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: The Francis Ford Coppola Winery near Geyserville, California, located on the former Chateau Souverain Winery, where he has opened a family-friendly facility, is influenced by the idea of the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, with swimming pools, bocce courts, and a restaurant. The winery displays several of Coppola's Oscars along with memorabilia from his movies, including Vito Corleone's desk from "The Godfather" and a restored 1948 Tucker Sedan as used in "".


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In October 2018, Coppola and family purchased the Vista Hills winery in Dayton, Oregon, and in 2019 renamed it to Domaine de Broglie.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In August 2021, Coppola sold Francis Ford Coppola Winery and Virginia Dare Winery to Delicato Family Wines.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Included in the Francis Ford Coppola Presents lifestyle brand are several hotels and resorts around the world. The Blancaneaux Lodge in Belize, which from the early 1980s was a family retreat until it was opened to the public in 1993 as a 20-room luxury resort and The Turtle Inn, in Placencia, Belize, (both of which have won several prestigious awards including "Travel + Leisure's World's Best: Best Resort in Central & South America"); La Lancha in Lago Petén Itzá, Guatemala; Jardín Escondido in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Palazzo Margherita in Bernalda, Italy.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In San Francisco, Coppola owns a restaurant named Cafe Zoetrope, located in the Sentinel Building where American Zoetrope is based. It serves traditional Italian cuisine and wine from his personal estate vineyard. For 14 years from 1994, Coppola co-owned the Rubicon restaurant in San Francisco along with Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. Rubicon closed in August 2008.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola bought out the San Francisco-based magazine "City" in the 1970s, with the intent of publishing a "service magazine" that informed readers about sights and activities in selected cities. The magazine was unsuccessful, and he lost $1.5 million on this venture.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 1997, Coppola founded "", a literary magazine devoted to short stories and design. The magazine publishes fiction by emerging writers alongside more recognizable names, such as Woody Allen, Margaret Atwood, Haruki Murakami, Alice Munro, Don DeLillo, Mary Gaitskill, and Edward Albee; as well as essays, including ones from Mario Vargas Llosa, David Mamet, Steven Spielberg, and Salman Rushdie. Each issue is designed, in its entirety, by a prominent artist, one usually working outside his / her expected field. Previous guest designers include Gus Van Sant, Tom Waits, Laurie Anderson, Marjane Satrapi, Guillermo del Toro, David Bowie, David Byrne, and Dennis Hopper. Coppola serves as founding editor and publisher of "All-Story".


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: In 2018, Coppola launched Sana Company LLC and released a cannabis brand known as The Grower's Series. The collection was created in partnership with the Humboldt Brothers, a Humboldt County cannabis farm. Coppola debuted the brand in San Francisco, California in October 2018 at the private cannabis dining club series known as Thursday Infused, organized by The Herb Somm, Jamie Evans. Coppola packaged The Grower's Series in a mock black tin wine bottle resembling his wine brand. The Grower's Series showcases three cannabis strains: a sativa, indica and hybrid.


title: Francis Ford Coppola

text: Coppola appeared in a commercial for Suntory Reserve in 1980 alongside Akira Kurosawa; the commercial was filmed while Kurosawa was making "Kagemusha", which Coppola produced.


title: Illuminati

text: The Illuminati (; plural of Latin "illuminatus", 'enlightened') is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on 1 May 1776 in Bavaria, today part of Germany. The society's goals were to oppose superstition, obscurantism, religious influence over public life and abuses of state power. "The order of the day," they wrote in their general statutes, "is to put an end to the machinations of the purveyors of injustice, to control them without dominating them." The Illuminati—along with Freemasonry and other secret societies—were outlawed through edict by Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, with the encouragement of the Catholic Church, in 1784, 1785, 1787 and 1790. During subsequent years, the group was generally vilified by conservative and religious critics who claimed that the Illuminati continued underground and were responsible for the French Revolution.


title: Illuminati

text: Many influential intellectuals and progressive politicians counted themselves as members, including Ferdinand of Brunswick and the diplomat Franz Xaver von Zach, who was the Order's second-in-command. It attracted literary men such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Gottfried Herder and the reigning Duke of Gotha and of Weimar.


title: Illuminati

text: In subsequent use, "Illuminati" has been used when referring to various organisations which are alleged to be a continuation of the original Bavarian Illuminati (though these links have not been substantiated). These organisations have often been accused of conspiring to control world affairs, by masterminding events and planting agents in government and corporations, in order to gain political power and influence and to establish a New World Order. Central to some of the more widely known and elaborate conspiracy theories, the Illuminati are depicted as lurking in the shadows and pulling the strings and levers of power. This view of the Illuminati has found its way into popular culture, appearing in dozens of novels, films, television shows, comics, video games and music videos.


title: Illuminati

text: Adam Weishaupt (1748–1830) became professor of Canon Law and practical philosophy at the University of Ingolstadt in 1773. He was the only non-clerical professor at an institution run by Jesuits, whose order Pope Clement XIV had dissolved in 1773. The Jesuits of Ingolstadt, however, still retained the purse strings and some power at the university, which they continued to regard as their own. They made constant attempts to frustrate and discredit non-clerical staff, especially when course material contained anything they regarded as liberal or Protestant. Weishaupt became deeply anti-clerical, resolving to spread the ideals of the Enlightenment ("Aufklärung") through some sort of secret society of like-minded individuals.