🔗 Share this article

Profound tributes are pouring in for Bahram Beyzai, a giant of Persian film and stage, who has died aged 87 in the US.

Homeland in Mourning

The front pages of publications in Iran mourn his loss, with opposition voices and those who reflect nostalgically on the pre-revolution period also offering their respects to Beyzai.

"This loss is an immense tragedy for the cultural heritage of our country," remarked the exiled prince, son of the last Shah of Iran.

Even though Beyzai's later films were banned in the 1980s by the Islamic regime, a host of prominent officials in the current government have also paid tribute his legacy to Persian arts.

A Mentor to Filmmakers

Several of the contemporary generation of Persian directors have expressed their gratitude to him. Jaafar Panahi noted that Beyzai showed them "how to stand up to oblivion."

Beyzai steered clear of direct political references in his work, both as a dramatist and a film director, and always said he tried not to trade in explicit commentary.

But his oeuvre over countless years places historical, even mythic figures in opposition with authoritarian structures of power.

A Cultural Foundation

Hailing from a lineage of renowned poets, Beyzai was imbued in the richest heritage of Iranian artistry from birth.

He first found fame as a playwright, drawing on Persian legend and ritual.

A devotee of cinema, he moved into making films in the 1970s.

He won renown as one of the pivotal artists in the new wave of Iranian cinema.

Navigating Censorship

His most productive period straddled the time of the Shah and then the revolutionary government that deposed him—with each regime ever ready to sniff out subtext that could be interpreted as dissent.

"Beyzai did not choose the easy way. He withstood years of exclusion, enforced quiet, and exile, but he did not give up his artistic voice and his beliefs," stated Jaafar Panahi in his tribute.

The Little Stranger

A few years after the Iranian Revolution, he produced what many regard as his masterpiece, Bashu, the Little Stranger, about a young child who tries to take refuge from the Iran-Iraq war.

It was censored in Iran—as were other films he made in that time—but later voted by critics as the greatest Iranian film of all time.

The film was shown in a restored version at this year's Venice Film Festival, receiving an award for outstanding feature in the classics section.

A Hopeful Exile

Beyzai finally left Iran in 2010 and lived out his final days in the US, where he taught Persian studies.

Although he went into exile, his wife, the actress Shamsai, said just hearing the word "Iran" would still make him emotional—and he continued to hope for a new culture and tomorrow for his homeland.