An icon of Iranian film has died, pulling rare unified praise from across a divided nation. Bahram Beyzai, a legendary cinema and theater figure, passed away at the age of eighty-seven in the United States. Iranian newspapers printed front-page tributes. His death drew respect from opposition voices, monarchists like exiled prince Reza Pahlavi, and even some current government figures, despite his later films being banned after the 1979 revolution.
Beyzai was a foundational force in Iran's cinematic new wave. He began as a playwright steeped in Persian myth, coming from a family of poets. His film work, starting in the seventies, avoided direct politics but often placed historical characters against oppressive systems. Fellow filmmaker Jaafar Panahi credited him with teaching a generation how to resist oblivion. Beyzai endured years of official exclusion and silence without abandoning his artistic language.
His masterpiece is widely considered to be Bashu, the Little Stranger, a film about a boy fleeing the Iran-Iraq war. It was banned in Iran but was later voted the greatest Iranian film ever by critics. A restored version won an award at the Venice Film Festival this year. Beyzai left Iran in 2010, teaching Iranian culture in America until his death. His wife said the mere mention of Iran would make him cry, and he always hoped for a new cultural future for his homeland.
Beyzai was a foundational force in Iran's cinematic new wave. He began as a playwright steeped in Persian myth, coming from a family of poets. His film work, starting in the seventies, avoided direct politics but often placed historical characters against oppressive systems. Fellow filmmaker Jaafar Panahi credited him with teaching a generation how to resist oblivion. Beyzai endured years of official exclusion and silence without abandoning his artistic language.
His masterpiece is widely considered to be Bashu, the Little Stranger, a film about a boy fleeing the Iran-Iraq war. It was banned in Iran but was later voted the greatest Iranian film ever by critics. A restored version won an award at the Venice Film Festival this year. Beyzai left Iran in 2010, teaching Iranian culture in America until his death. His wife said the mere mention of Iran would make him cry, and he always hoped for a new cultural future for his homeland.
