Bahram Beyzaie Memorial Service

Bahram Beyzaie passed away on his 87th birthday on December 26, 2025. His funeral was held in Half Moon Bay, California on January 3, 2026. Bahram Beyzaie (1938-2025) was a celebrated Iranian playwright, filmmaker, critic, scholar, and stage director. Born in December 1938 in Tehran to a family of poets and literary scholars, he was first introduced to Western audiences in 1963 when his play was staged at the Festival du Théâtre des Nations in Paris. Beyzaie later became Professor and Chair of the Dramatic Arts Department at Tehran University until the Islamic Revolution. He has published over 35 plays and more than 50 screenplays—many translated into several languages—and directed numerous stage productions in Iran and the U.S. From 2010 to 2025, he served as the Daryabari Visiting Lecturer in Iranian Studies at Stanford University, teaching Iranian cinema, theater, and mythology while directing innovative theatrical and shadow play productions. As a filmmaker, Beyzaie was a leading figure of the Iranian New Wave. He directed ten feature films, including Downpour; The Ballad of Tara; Death of Yazdgerd; Bashu, The Little Stranger; and The Travelers, earning numerous national and international awards, most recently from the Venice Film Festival for Bashu, The Little Stranger. His scholarly contributions include major studies on Iranian, Japanese, and Chinese theater, research on One Thousand and One Nights, and a book on Alfred Hitchcock’s films. His comprehensive work Theatre in Iran (1965) remains an authoritative account of Iranian theater history. This video was made possible by the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies at Stanford University, with special thanks to Shidan and Mehran Taslimi, and Bahram Beyzaie's family and friends.