Directing

Bahram Beyzai

Born December 26, 1938 · Tehran, Iran

Died December 27, 2025 · aged 87

Bahrām Beyzāie (also spelt Beizai, Beyza'i, Persian: بهرام بیضائی‎, 26 December 1938 — 27 December 2025) was a critically and popularly acclaimed filmmaker, playwright, theater director, screenwriter, film editor, and ostād ("master") of Persian letters, arts and Iranian studies. Beyzāie was the son of the poet Ne'matallah Beyzai (best known by his literary pseudonym "Zokā'i"). The celebrated poe…

Known For

Bashu, the Little Stranger

Bashu, the Little Stranger · 1989

Bashu, the Little Stranger

During the Iran-Iraq War, young Bashu loses his home and family. Orphaned, he sneaks into a truck leaving the area, and gets off in the Northern country, where everything from landscape to language is different. He meets Naii, trying to raise her two young children on a farm while her husband is away. Despite cultural differences and a language barrier, Bashu and Naii slowly form a strong bond.

When We Are All Asleep

When We Are All Asleep · 2009

When We Are All Asleep

Chakameh, who has lost both her husband and child in a car accident, meets a man recently released from prison. While she's under pressure from lawyers to compromise with the arrested driver, the ex-convict tells her his story of his arrest and subsequent freedom.

Killing Mad Dogs

Killing Mad Dogs · 2001

Killing Mad Dogs

MovieThrillerDrama

Golrokh, an Iranian author, struggles to settle her husband's debts caused by a business partner who left him to bear the consequences.

Uncle Moustache

Uncle Moustache · 1970

Uncle Moustache

A lonely old man takes to terrorizing the kids who build a football pitch next to his house.

The Runner

The Runner · 1984

A young orphan named Amiro lives alone in an abandoned tanker in the Iranian port city of Abadan. He survives by shining shoes, selling water, and collecting deposit bottles. Although he sometimes finds himself at odds with both adults and competing older kids, he finds solace in dreams about departing cargo ships and airplanes—and by running.

The Stranger and the Fog

The Stranger and the Fog · 1975

The Stranger and the Fog

MovieDramaMystery

In a remote seaside village, its residents' peaceful lives are upended when they spot a mysterious boat drifting toward the shore. Upon pulling it in, they find a weary and wounded stranger named Ayat, who only recalls being attacked and barely escaping with his life. As Ayat tries to rebuild his sense of self and uncover his past, he becomes a source of curiosity and suspicion in the community.

The Fifth Season

The Fifth Season · 1997

The Fifth Season

MovieDramaComedy

The fight for power in an isolated village. Two families have been enemies for so long they cannot even remember why. The only hope for peace between the feuding families is lost when an arranged marriage agreement is broken. Some days later, the groom, Karamat, returns with a brand new minibus. But a fierce competition for passengers break out when the bride, Mehrbanou, decides to do the same.

Downpour

Downpour · 1972

MovieDramaRomance

Well-educated and humble teacher Mr Hekmati arrives in a new city and at a new job in the pre-revolutionary Iran. He falls in love with a hardworking underprivileged young woman who nurses her elderly mother and raises her young brother.

Filmography

Sort

Bashu, the Little Stranger

Bashu, the Little Stranger · 1989

Bashu, the Little Stranger

During the Iran-Iraq War, young Bashu loses his home and family. Orphaned, he sneaks into a truck leaving the area, and gets off in the Northern country, where everything from landscape to language is different. He meets Naii, trying to raise her two young children on a farm while her husband is away. Despite cultural differences and a language barrier, Bashu and Naii slowly form a strong bond.

Director

When We Are All Asleep

When We Are All Asleep · 2009

When We Are All Asleep

Chakameh, who has lost both her husband and child in a car accident, meets a man recently released from prison. While she's under pressure from lawyers to compromise with the arrested driver, the ex-convict tells her his story of his arrest and subsequent freedom.

Director

Killing Mad Dogs

Killing Mad Dogs · 2001

Killing Mad Dogs

MovieThrillerDrama

Golrokh, an Iranian author, struggles to settle her husband's debts caused by a business partner who left him to bear the consequences.

Director

Uncle Moustache

Uncle Moustache · 1970

Uncle Moustache

A lonely old man takes to terrorizing the kids who build a football pitch next to his house.

Director

The Runner

The Runner · 1984

A young orphan named Amiro lives alone in an abandoned tanker in the Iranian port city of Abadan. He survives by shining shoes, selling water, and collecting deposit bottles. Although he sometimes finds himself at odds with both adults and competing older kids, he finds solace in dreams about departing cargo ships and airplanes—and by running.

Editor

The Stranger and the Fog

The Stranger and the Fog · 1975

The Stranger and the Fog

MovieDramaMystery

In a remote seaside village, its residents' peaceful lives are upended when they spot a mysterious boat drifting toward the shore. Upon pulling it in, they find a weary and wounded stranger named Ayat, who only recalls being attacked and barely escaping with his life. As Ayat tries to rebuild his sense of self and uncover his past, he becomes a source of curiosity and suspicion in the community.

Director

The Fifth Season

The Fifth Season · 1997

The Fifth Season

MovieDramaComedy

The fight for power in an isolated village. Two families have been enemies for so long they cannot even remember why. The only hope for peace between the feuding families is lost when an arranged marriage agreement is broken. Some days later, the groom, Karamat, returns with a brand new minibus. But a fierce competition for passengers break out when the bride, Mehrbanou, decides to do the same.

Writer

Downpour

Downpour · 1972

MovieDramaRomance

Well-educated and humble teacher Mr Hekmati arrives in a new city and at a new job in the pre-revolutionary Iran. He falls in love with a hardworking underprivileged young woman who nurses her elderly mother and raises her young brother.

Writer

Summit of the Wave

Summit of the Wave · 2003

Summit of the Wave

MovieDocumentary

Part 3 of documentary trilogy about Persian poet Forough Farrokhzad. This part focuses on her theatre and film work.

Salandar

Salandar · 1980

The Mongol invasion of Iran leaves the country devastated but the people fight for their right in their own way.

Writer

Ballad of Tara

Ballad of Tara · 1979

MovieFantasyDrama

Beautiful young widow Tara returns to her village with her two children from the country. On her way home, she learns that her grandfather has died, and distributes his belongings among her neighbours. But there remains an old sword that no one will accept. One day, on the road, Tara meets an ancient warrior, who claims that his clan have sent him to take the old sword back.

Director

Ballad of Bahram

Ballad of Bahram · 2018

Ballad of Bahram

MovieDocumentary

A documentary about Bahram Beyzai (Persian: بهرام بیضایی; born 26 December 1938). He is an Iranian playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, film editor, and ostād ("master") of Persian letters, arts, and Iranian studies.

as Himself (Archive Footage)

The Raven

The Raven · 1977

MovieDramaMystery

Mr. Esalat, a television producer, discovers a missing person's photo in a newspaper that bears a striking resemblance to someone he knows. While investigating the case for a television program with the help of his deaf wife, Asieh, the search uncovers deeper and unexpected connections to their own family's past.

Director

Journey

Journey · 1972

The story is about two poor boys’ search for their father through a Journey from downtown to uptown. Two hungry boys are forced to move through the events, people and unrealistic and risky places in a nightmarish way. A daily journey in search of their lost identity and worth!

Director

Zamaneh

Zamaneh · 2002

Zamane and Saeid are neighbors. Despite their own arrangements to get married, their families are against this marriage. Zamane’s family’s reason for this opposition, especially her father’s, is the fact that Saeid is a disabled veteran who is on the wheelchair. Zamane, who’s had enough of her family’s strict behavior, offers Saeid to run away with her and then get married, but he doesn’t accept that.

Editor

Bukhara Chronicles

Bukhara Chronicles · 2025

Bukhara Chronicles

MovieDocumentary

Ali Dehbashi, the editor-in-chief of Bukhara Magazine, is forced to vacate his rented office. While struggling with asthma and the pressure of publishing a special issue dedicated to Ferdowsi, he continues to honor artists and visit ailing cultural figures. Homeless and unwell, his devotion to Iran’s literary legacy keeps him going.

voice

Death of Yazdgerd

Death of Yazdgerd · 1982

Death of Yazdgerd

MovieHistoryDrama

A poetic imagining of the circumstances leading to the death of Yazdgerd III, the last of the Sassanid kings of Iran. His death in 651, during the Arab invasions that brought Islam to this Zoroastrian realm, remains mysterious: his corpse is discovered in a mill, but the cause of death—and the whereabouts of his remains—are unknown.

Director

The Fateful Day

The Fateful Day · 1995

The Fateful Day

MovieAdventureDrama

As Abdollah prepares to get married to his long-time love, he hears calls for help during his wedding and leaves the ceremony for an adventure to find the truth.

Writer

Persian Carpet

Persian Carpet · 2007

MovieDocumentary

Persian Carpet is an omnibus film produced by Iran's National Carpet Center and Farabi Cinema Foundation where 15 renowned Iranian directors contributed films on the subject of Persian carpet. Carpets are the reflection of the cultural and historical identity of Iran.

Director

Maybe Some Other Time

Maybe Some Other Time · 1988

Maybe Some Other Time

MovieDramaThriller

Famed actress Susan Taslimi plays three roles here: Kian, who doubts her identity; Vida, the twin sister, a self-assured artist; and their mother, who gives up one child out of fear of poverty, then deprives the other of affection due to deep regrets regarding the child whom she has abandoned.

Director

The Red Line

The Red Line · 1982

MovieDramaThriller

During the Islamic revolution a SAVAK member Amani marries a woman her name Laleh. Laleh is a doctor and helps the injures of the revolution. Her brother is too involved in the revolution.

Writer

Travelers

Travelers · 1992

A wedding day becomes a ritual of mourning when the bride's family die in an auto accident. Refusing to accept her daughter's death, and in the midst of guests and mourners, including the drivers that caused the accident, the mother orders the wedding to move forward. But how can the bride marry in the midst of a wake and without the family's traditional mirror, which the sister was bringing to the service?

Director

The Green Cold

The Green Cold · 1999

MovieDocumentary

Part 1 of the trilogy concerning Persian poet Farough Farrokhz. This film traces her personal life.

Minoo Watch Tower

Minoo Watch Tower · 1996

Minoo Watch Tower

Minoo who is married to Moosa recently, is moving to the new house. But Moosa receive a letter in which he being told to get back to the Minoo Island (a border island between Iran and Iraq), to dispatch a watch tower there from the period of war. Moosa who has a lot of memories of that place refuses to go there but his wife Minoo is insisting. Finally she manages to convince him and both go there.

Editor