Bahram Beyzai

Bahrām Beyzai
بهرام بیضائی
Beyzaie in 2002
Born (1938-12-26) 26 December 1938 (age 85)
Tehran, Imperial State of Iran
Occupation(s)Playwright, director, screenwriter, editor
Years active1962–present
Spouses
Monir-A'zam Raminfar
​
​
(m. 1965; div. 1991)​
​
(m. 1992)​
Children3, including Niloofar
Parent(s)Ne'matallah Beyzai (father)
Nayereh Movafegh (mother)[1]
Signature
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Bahram Beyzai
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Bahram Beyzai

Bahrām Beyzāêi (also spelt Beizāi, Beyzāêi, Persian: بهرام بیضائی; born 26 December 1938) is an Iranian playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, film editor, and ostād ("master") of Persian letters, arts and Iranian studies.

Beyzaie is the son of the poet Ne'matallah Beyzai (best known by his literary pseudonym "Zokā'i").[2] The celebrated poet Adib Beyzai, one of the most profound poets of 20th-century Iran, is Bahram's paternal uncle.[3] Bahram Beyzaie's paternal grandfather, Mirzā Mohammad-Rezā Ārāni ("Ebn Ruh"), and paternal great-grandfather, the Mulla Mohammad-Faqih Ārāni ("Ruh'ol-Amin"), were also notable poets.[4]

Despite his belated start in cinema, Beyzai is often considered a pioneer of a generation of filmmakers whose works are sometimes described as the Iranian New Wave. His Bashu, the Little Stranger (1986) was voted "Best Iranian Film of all time" in November 1999 by a Persian movie magazine Picture World poll of 150 Iranian critics and professionals.[5] Still, even before the outset of his cinematic career in 1970, he was a leading playwright (as well as theatre historian), so much so that he is often considered the greatest playwright of the Persian language, and holds a reputation as "The Shakespeare of Persia".[6][7]

Since 2010, Beyzai has lived and taught at Stanford University, United States.

  1. ^ بهرام بیضایی در سوگ مادر نشست
  2. ^ Two thousand verse lines by Zokā'i Beyzāie, of a total of six thousand, were published in 1978 (1357 AH) in a book entitled Yad-e Bayzā (The White Hand); Bayzā in Persian is the literary word for White. See Arash Fanā'iān, Gofteman-e Iran, 20 January 2008. [1][permanent dead link].
  3. ^ Arash Fanā'iān, Gofteman-e Iran, 20 January 2008. [2][permanent dead link]. It is noteworthy that Adib Ali Beyzāie's son, Hossein Beyzāie, is also a poet; his literary pseudonym is Partow (Ray of Light).
  4. ^ Arash Fanā'iān, Gofteman-e Iran, 20 January 2008. [3][permanent dead link].
  5. ^ Picture World (Donyaye Tassvir), No. 74, November 1999, ISSN 1023-2613
  6. ^ Hasani 2018.
  7. ^ Abbas Milani's speech, Toronto, 2017.