By Nazanine Nouri
The renowned Iranian filmmaker, playwright, and scholar Bahram Beyzaie, who passed away on December 26th at the age of 87, was one of the leading figures of the Iranian New Wave movement. His work profoundly shaped modern Iranian cinema and theater and his influence extended far beyond Iran’s borders.
The Iranian New Wave — or Cinema-ye Motafavet — was a grassroots movement in Iranian documentary and fiction filmmaking which began as an artistic response to the rapid modernization of Iranian society in the 1960s and 70s. Produced by a small group of young, collaborative and mostly self-taught filmmakers, the films – which were set against the backdrop of the Shah’s reign – combined documentary realism with poetic allegory, and reflected the complex and often contradictory emotions toward modernization during that period.
Beyzaie was born in 1938 into a literary family and developed an early fascination with storytelling, drama and the deep roots of Persian culture. He devoted years to the study of ancient Persian theater, ritual performance, folklore and mythology and this scholarly grounding would become a defining feature of his artistic voice.
Beyzaie helped revitalize Iran’s performing arts by fusing Indo-Iranian mythology and traditional Iranian performing arts with modern theater and cinema. He headed the University of Tehran’s Theater Arts Department for many years. His book “Theater in Iran” [Namayesh dar Iran] (1965) is considered an authoritative history of Iranian stage performance. He left Iran in 2010 at the invitation of Stanford University, and had since been Lecturer of Persian Studies, in particular Iranian theater and cinema.
His films, including “Downpour” [Ragbar] (1972), “The Stranger and the Fog” [Gharibeh Va Meh] (1974), “Bashu, the Little Stranger” [Bashu, Gharibeye Koochak] (1986) and “Killing Mad Dogs” [Sagkoshi] (2001), are widely regarded as landmarks of Iranian and world cinema. “Bashu, the Little Stranger” is widely acknowledged as a masterpiece, and gained international acclaim after years of censorship. Set against the backdrop of the Iran-Iraq War, it tells the story of a displaced Arab-speaking child and a woman in northern Iran who shelters him.
As a playwright, Bezaie’s plays which include “Death of Yazdgerd” and “The One Thousand and First Night” redefined dramatic language and structure, blending history and myth with contemporary political and moral questions.
Beyzaie leaves behind an extraordinary body of work that continues to inspire filmmakers, playwrights and scholars around the world. Thanks to his films and plays, his voice will continue to be heard long after his passing.
He will be featured in the upcoming “Masterpieces of the Iranian New Wave” which is returning to the Barbican Cinema in London between February 4 and 26, 2026 and will open with Beyzaie’s film “The Ballad of Tara” [Cherike-ye Tara], nominated at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980.
Starring Susan Taslimi, it is the first of his works to be fully centered on a woman. The film’s completion coincided with the Iranian Revolution and was banned in Iran as its vision of a desired woman, sovereign over her fate was intolerable for the new regime. Also featured at the Barbican is Beyzaie’s short “Journey” [Safar] (1972).
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