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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 headlines of Iranian newspapers lament his loss, with opposition voices and those who look back fondly on the Shah era also offering their respects to Beyzai.

"His passing is an immense tragedy for the art and culture of our country," remarked the exiled prince, the exiled 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 senior figures in the current government have also acknowledged his legacy to Persian arts.

A Mentor to Filmmakers

Many of the contemporary generation of Iranian filmmakers have acknowledged their debt to him. Award-winning director Jaafar Panahi noted that Beyzai showed them "the way to resist oblivion."

Beyzai avoided direct political references in his work, both as a playwright and a cinematic auteur, and always said he tried not to deal in overt messages.

But his work over many decades sets archetypal characters in conflict with authoritarian religious and political systems.

A Cultural Foundation

From a family of renowned poets, Beyzai was steeped in the deepest traditions of Iranian artistry from birth.

He first rose to prominence as a theater writer, drawing on ancient myths and ceremonies.

A devotee of cinema, he transitioned to filmmaking in the 1970s.

He won renown as one of the key figures in the groundbreaking movement of Persian film.

Navigating Censorship

His most fruitful era straddled the time of the Shah and then the Islamic theocratic forces that overthrew him—with each regime ever ready to detect hidden messages that could be seen as dissent.

"Beyzai did not choose the easy way. He endured years of exclusion, imposed silence, and distance, but he did not give up his language and his convictions," said the filmmaker in his tribute.

The Little Stranger

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

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

The film was screened in a restored version at this year's Venice Biennale, winning an award for best film in the heritage category.

A Hopeful Exile

Beyzai finally left Iran in 2010 and lived out his final days in the US, where he lectured on Iranian culture.

Even after he left his homeland, his wife, the actress Shamsai, said just hearing the word "Iran" would still bring tears to his eyes—and he remained ever hopeful for a new culture and tomorrow for his native land.