Bahram Beyzaie: An American Cinematheque Tribute
An In-Person Screening Series
AERO THEATRE & LOS FELIZ THEATRE
Los Angeles
BAHRAM BEYZAIE:
AN AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE TRIBUTE
August 27 – August 30, 2026
Co-presented by Farhang Foundation and PARS Equality Center
ABOUT THE SERIES
The American Cinematheque honors legendary Iranian filmmaker and playwright Bahram Beyzaie with a tribute spanning four decades of essential work. Widely regarded as an ostād (“master”) of Persian literature and mythology, Beyzaie made those traditions central to a body of art inseparable from Iran’s ancient cultural history.
A leading figure of the Iranian New Wave, Beyzaie began as a playwright before joining such filmmaking pioneers as Abbas Kiarostami, Ebrahim Golestan, Dariush Mehrjui and Amir Naderi. They sought an alternative to the low-budget melodrama, thin characterization and familiar formulas of popular FilmFarsi productions, looking to the European New Waves while aspiring to Iran’s own tradition of artistic excellence. Beyzaie entered cinema with the social-realist shorts “Uncle Mustache” and “Journey.” His feature debut, Downpour, then transformed FilmFarsi conventions through romance, comedy, social and economic observation, and a style blending elements of Italian neorealism and the French New Wave.
Cultural preservation may be Beyzaie’s greatest legacy. During a period when forces inside and outside Iran threatened the country’s history—and especially after the 1979 revolution endangered surviving pre-Islamic art and storytelling—works including The Stranger and the Fog and Ballad of Tara drew new cinematic life from Iran’s ancestral traditions. His focus evolved as Iran changed. In the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq War, Bashu, the Little Stranger crossed the country’s regional, linguistic and ethnic boundaries to affirm communal responsibility, human dignity, moral values and connection to the land. A 1999 poll of more than 150 Iranian critics and film professionals named it the best Iranian film of all time. Beyzaie continued working prolifically until leaving Iran in 2010. In the 2001 film Killing Mad Dogs, he turned toward a contemporary society contending with corruption, greed and injustice after the traumas of revolution and war.
Thursday, August 27, 2026 – 7:00pm
LOS FELIZ THEATRE – LOS FELIZ 3
1822 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027
KILLING MAD DOGS
preceded by
Dialogue With The Wind
ABOUT THE FILMS
Dialogue with the Wind
1988, Dir. Bahram Beyzaie, 20 min., Iran
In Persian with English subtitles.
Bahram Beyzaie’s avant-garde short explores the history of Kish Island in southern Iran.
Format: DCP
Killing Mad Dogs
2001, Dir. Bahram Beyzaie, 135 min., Iran/France
In Persian with English subtitles.
Iranian author Golrokh fights to settle the debts her husband was left with after his business partner abandoned him to face the consequences.
Format: DCP
Friday, August 28, 2026 – 3:15pm
LOS FELIZ THEATRE – LOS FELIZ 3
1822 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027
DOWNPOUR
preceded by
Journey and Uncle Mustache
ABOUT THE FILMS
Downpour
1972, Dir. Bahram Beyzaie, 129 min., Janus Films, Iran
In Persian with English subtitles.
Beyzaie’s exuberant first feature follows the hapless intellectual Mr. Hekmati, a schoolteacher and fish out of water in a new neighborhood. Shot in luminous black and white and edited with quicksilver invention, the film finds humor and tenderness in the cultural conflicts reshaping Iran.
Restored in 2011 by Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Bahram Beyzaie. Restoration funded by Doha Film Institute.
Format: DCP
Journey
1972, Dir. Bahram Beyzaie, 33 min., Film Movement, Iran
In Persian with English subtitles.
Two children travel together: one searches for his parents, while the other hopes those imagined parents might help him find a better job.
Format: DCP
Uncle Mustache
1970, Dir. Bahram Beyzaie, 28 min., Film Movement, Iran
In Persian with English subtitles.
An unexpected emotional bond develops between a lonely older man and a group of naturally joyful children.
Format: DCP
Saturday, August 29, 2026 – 1:00pm
LOS FELIZ THEATRE – LOS FELIZ 3
1822 N Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027
BALLAD OF TARA
Ballad of Tara
1979, Dir. Bahram Beyzaie, 102 min., Iran
After her grandfather dies, the widowed Tara discovers a sword among his possessions and gives it to a neighbor. On a lonely road, an ancient warrior emerges from the fog and demands its return.
Format: DCP
Sunday, August 30, 2026 – 6:00pm
— DOUBLE FEATURE —
AERO THEATRE
1328 Montana Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90403
BASHU, THE LITTLE STRANGER
Bashu, the Little Stranger
1985, Dir. Bahram Beyzaie, 122 min., Film Movement, Iran
In Gilaki, Arabic and Persian with English subtitles.
Voted “the greatest Iranian film of all time” by Persian film magazine Picture House, this deeply humanist tale follows Bashu, a boy who loses his family during the Iran-Iraq War and flees north. A farmer named Naii shelters him, and despite differences in language and culture, they form a lasting bond while confronting the suspicion of her close-knit community.
Format: DCP
THE STRANGER AND THE FOG
The Stranger and the Fog
1974, Dir. Bahram Beyzaie, 146 min., Janus Films, Iran
In Persian with English subtitles.
On Iran’s northern coast, a boat drifts into a village carrying Ayat, a wounded stranger with no memory of his past. He gradually joins the community and marries Rana, whose husband vanished at sea, but shadowy figures soon appear and threaten revenge for deeds he cannot remember.
Restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project and Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with Bahram Beyzaie. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
Format: DCP
Event Details
| Event Starts | 08/27/2026 |
| Event Ends | 08/30/2026 |
| Individual Price | $10-$15 |
