Films

Killing Rabids

Golrokh Kamali recently left her husband, Nasser Moaser, suspecting he had an affair with his secretary. And yet, she returns to Tehran to save him after learning of his bankruptcy and imprisonment. 

Original Title: Sag Koshi

Director & Screenwriter: Bahram Beyzaie

Cast: Mojdeh Shamsaie, Saeid Shanbehzadeh, Parviz Pourhosini

Cinematographer: Asghar Rafi Jam

Composers: Saba Khozoee, Vartan Sahakian

Producer: Bahram Beyzaie (A Production by Lisar Film Group)

Duration: 145 minutes

Read more about Killing Rabids and the feminist portrayal of women in Iranian cinema

Maybe Some Other Time

Mr. Modaber, a documentary filmmaker, commentator, and narrator, becomes suspicious of his wife after accidentally seeing her picture with a stranger man. His wife Kian, who is busy with her parents' illness, is not aware of his suspicions. Mr. Modaber tries to find the strange man by monitoring his wife's every moment. However, he gradually realizes that Kian's parents are not ill, and Kian herself is sick and is desperately seeking to discover the cause of a memory rooted in the distant past. Mr. Modaber, after discovering the striking resemblance of the strange man's wife to Kian, begins to understand the complete picture—and perhaps the key to Kian's mental problem. And finally, in the new documentary that Mr. Modaber makes with the help of his colleagues, Kian confronts her past and the reality behind her nightmares is recorded in the film; a truth that now belongs to everyone.

Original Title: Shayad Vaghti Digar 

Director & Screenwriter: Bahram Beyzaie

Cast: Susan Taslimi, Dariush Farhang, Alireza Mojalal 

Cinematographer: Asghar Rafi Jam 

Composer: Babak Bayat

Producer: Mohammad Ali Farajollahi, Hushang Noorollahi, Reza Alipour, Asad Delshad Ershadi

Duration: 159 minutes

The Death of Yazdgerd

It is historically said that, at the same time as the Arab invasion, Yazdgerd Shah III (the last Sassanid king), was killed by the miller who had sheltered him. This film is the story of the trial of the miller's family, as what they narrate about the incident actually becomes a trial of the Sassanid government. Eventually, the invading Arabs arrive, and there is no longer a difference between the fate of the accuser and the accused.

Written for the stage by Beyzaie, Death of Yazdgerd was originally staged in 1979. In 1982, Beyzaie directed the film version. 

Original Title: Marg Yazdgerd

Director & Screenwriter: Bahram Beyzaie

Cast: Susan Taslimi, Mehdi Hashemi, Yasman Arami, Amin Tarokh

Cinematographer: Mehrdad Fakhimi

Composer: Babak Bayat

Producer: (Lisar Film Group) For Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting TV1

Duration: 120 minutes

The Crow

Mr. Esalat, a television reporter and producer, comes across a photo of a missing girl in a newspaper whose face looks familiar. His wife is a deaf school teacher and is writing the memoirs of his stepmother, who is stuck living in the past. They all join the search Mr. Esalat has started. His search for the missing girl turns into a television show about missing people. His curious wife, Asieh, is the one who discovers that the missing girl is her stepmother's younger self.

Original Title: Kalagh 

Director & Screenwriter: Bahram Beyzaie

Cast: Parvaneh Masoumi, Hossein Parvaresh, Annik Shefrazian, Manuchehr Farid  

Cinematographer: Mehrdad Fakhimi

Composer: Sheida Gharachehdaghi

Producer: Bahman Farmanara (Iran Cinema Industry Development Company)

Duration: 120 minutes

Downpour

Mr. Hekmati, a new teacher, has been transferred to a school in the south of the city. A student accuses him of falling in love with the sister of another student. The rumor spreads by word of mouth, and Mr. Hakmani's attempt to deny it and all of the opposition and controversy around it, make him actually begin to fall in love. However, at that moment, Mr. Hekmati is transferred to another school and has to leave the neighborhood.  

Original title: Ragbar

Director & Screenwriter: Bahram Beyzaie 

Cast: Parviz Fannizadeh, Parvaneh Masoomi, Manuchehr Farid 

Cinematographers: Barbad Taheri, Maziar Parto 

Composer: Sheida Gharachedaghi 

Producer: Barbad Taheri

Duration: 120 minutes

Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project painstakingly restored the only known surviving print. Watch "Downpour," and hear from Bahram Beyzaie and Martin Scorsese about the film on the Criterion Collection website. 

Beyzaie Discusses Restored "Downpour" During San Francisco Screenings

Talking to the Wind

A strange woman appears in the way of a shopkeeper and tries to remind him of his past. The man does not remember anything and denies everything. 

Original Title: Goftehgoo Ba Baad

Director & Screenwriter: Bahram Beyzaie

Cast: Mojdeh Shamsaie, Majid Mozaffari, Mitr Hajjar, Reza Kianian, Dariush Arjmand

Cinematographer: Aziz Saati

Producer: Bahram Beyzaie 

Duration: 20 minutes

Uncle Moustache

An old man is annoyed by children playing loudly. One day, the children accidentally break his window with a ball and run away in fear—they don't return to play near him. However, accustomed to their noise, the old man feels lonely and dismal and begins to look for them. 

Original Title: Amoo Sibiloo

Director: Bahram Beyzaie

Screenwriter: Bahram Beyzaie (based on a story by Fereydoon Hedayatpour) 

Cast: Sadegh Bahrami and the children of the Kan district in Tehran

Cinematographer: Nemat Haghighi 

Composer: Esfandiyar Monfaredzadeh

Producer: Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults

Duration: 29 minutes