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Widespread homages have been shared for the legendary Bahram Beyzai, a giant of Iranian cinema and theatre, who has died aged 87 while residing in the United States.

A Nation Mourns

The front pages of publications in Iran mourn his loss, with dissenting figures and those who look back fondly on the Shah era also offering their respects to Beyzai.

"His passing is a great loss for the cultural heritage of our country," said Prince Reza Pahlavi, 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 prominent officials in the current government have also paid tribute his legacy to Iranian culture.

The Teacher of a Generation

Many of the current crop of Persian directors have expressed their gratitude to him. Jaafar Panahi said that Beyzai showed them "the way to resist oblivion."

Beyzai avoided overtly political content in his work, both as a dramatist and a cinematic auteur, and always said he tried not to trade in overt messages.

But his oeuvre over many decades sets historical, even mythic figures in opposition with oppressive religious and political systems.

A Cultural Foundation

From a family of renowned poets, Beyzai was imbued in the richest heritage of Iranian artistry from birth.

He first rose to prominence as a playwright, inspired by Persian legend and ritual.

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

He gained acclaim as one of the pivotal artists in the new wave of Iranian cinema.

Navigating Censorship

His most productive period straddled the time of the Shah and then the revolutionary government that overthrew him—with both systems ever ready to detect hidden messages that could be seen as dissent.

"Beyzai never opted for the path of least resistance. He withstood years of exclusion, enforced quiet, and exile, but he never abandoned his artistic voice and his beliefs," stated the filmmaker in his tribute.

The Little Stranger

A few years after the 1979 Revolution, he produced what many regard as his magnum opus, Bashu, the Little Stranger, about a young child who tries to take refuge from the Iran-Iraq war.

It was banned in Iran—as were subsequent works he made in that period—but later voted by film critics as the greatest Iranian film of all time.

The film was screened in a newly remastered print at this year's Venice Biennale, winning an award for best film in the classics section.

Final Years in Exile

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

Even after he went into exile, his wife, the actress Shamsai, said just hearing the word "Iran" would still make him emotional—and he continued to hope for a renewed spirit and future for his native land.