Asia News Iran, Art Service
Mansour Jahani - Jafar Panahi, the director of the film “It Was Just an Accident” wrote about Bahram Beyzaie, a renowned director of Iranian cinema: “Beyzaie did not choose in easy way. He endured years of exclusion, imposed silence, and distance, but he did not give up his language and beliefs. Many of us, directly or indirectly, learned from him. We learned how to stand up to oblivion.”
According to the report of Mansour Jahani, an independent and international cinema journalist, Jafar Panahi, the director who won the Palme d'Or at the 78th Cannes International Film Festival, continues his writing by recalling his last meeting with Bahram Beyzaie, which did not take place: “That day in San Francisco, I had a simple meeting with the mastero; at two in the afternoon. At eleven, the phone rang. “Mozhdeh Shamsai” was his wife, and then the voice changed; it was tired and painful voice. He said he was not feeling well and would prefer to have this meeting when he was feeling better; perhaps on another trip. I knew that he had been through a full year of chemotherapy, and the fatigue of his voice carried the weight of that silent battle. Without knowing that this would be the last time I would hear his voice, we said goodbye, hoping for the next trip.”
This renowned Iranian cinema director continued: “Bahram Beyzaie was not just a name in the history of Iranian cinema and theater; he was someone who portrayed the myth, history, and language of this land and did not let them be forgotten. Iranian cinema, before it was seen by the world, recognized itself in the mirror of his gaze. He gave thought to the image and dignity to the narrative.” In the final part of his message, Jafar Panahi wrote: “Today, that tired voice is for me the voice of a complete era; an era that thought and grew tall with elegance. Iranian cinema is indebted to him; not only for his works, but also for the honor he gave to thought and art. He is gone, but what he created and planted lives on in images, in words, and in our consciences.”
Bahram Beyzaie, a prominent Iranian film and theater director, playwright, screenwriter, and researcher, and a member of the Academy Awards, died of complications from cancer on Friday, December 26, 2025, on his 87th birthday in the United States. The film “Bashu, the Little Strangera” is one of the successful films of Bahram Beyzaie and was produced in 1985 in Iran. It was screened at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival in 2025, and the “Venice Classic” award for best restored film went to its director.