TEHRAN –The restored versions of two movies by celebrated Iranian director and playwright Bahram Beizai went on screen at the 37th edition of the Il Cinema Ritrovato (“the rediscovered cinema”) festival, which was held in Bologna, Italy from June 24 to July 2.

The festival screened Beizai’s 1974 movie “The Stranger and the Fog” and his 1979 film “Ballad of Tara”.
    
“The Stranger and the Fog” tells the story of a young man, who arrives unconscious in a canoe onto the shore of the Persian Gulf. After he is revived he claims to have no memory of who he is. He falls in love with a beautiful village woman and marries her. After years of peace, strangers from the sea come looking for him and attack the village.

“Ballad of Tara” is about a young widow, Tara, who returns to her village because of her grandfather’s death. She gives neighbors the grandfather’s belongings, but there is an old sword that no one wants. One day she meets an ancient warrior who claims that the sword is his and he has been sent to the present time to take it back.

The film is the first Iranian film that competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980.

Beizai’s stories, plays and screenplays, as well as his studies on various fields, have been published in over seventy books. 

His debut feature, “Downpour”, is regarded as one of the most successful Iranian films ever made. Beizai is also an influential figure of Iran’s New Wave cinema.

Photo: A scene from Bahram Beizai’s 1979 film “Ballad of Tara”

ABU/