TEHRAN-Renowned Iranian filmmaker Bahram Beyzai is among the 487 members of the global film community who have been invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to join the membership ranks of the Oscar organizer.

A director and screenwriter, Beyzai has been invited by the directors’ and writers’ branches of the Academy, ISNA reported.

Invitees who wish to accept, as the vast majority tend to, will join the specific branch of the Academy that invited them. Beyzai is one of the eight people who were invited by more than one branch. The others include Michael Andrews (film editors and short films/feature animation), Ilker Çatak (directors and writers), Nadim Cheikhrouha (documentary and producers), Cord Jefferson (directors and writers), Celine Song (directors and writers), Justine Triet (directors and writers) and Christine Turner (documentary and short films/feature animation). They have to have to pick one branch to join.

Other notables on this year’s list include the actors Jessica Alba, Sandra Hüller, Greta Lee, Lily Gladstone, Kate Mara, and Catherine O’Hara as well as filmmakers Alice Diop, Celine Song, S.S. Rajamouli, Boots Riley, Emma Seligman, and David Yates among many others.

If all accept, it will bring the Academy’s total membership to 10,910, of which 9,934 would be voting members. With the addition of the 2024 members, 35 percent of Academy members identify as women, 20 percent are from underrepresented ethnic and racial communities, and 20 percent are from countries or territories outside the U.S.

“We are thrilled to welcome this year’s class of new members,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and president Janet Yang said in a joint statement. “These remarkably talented artists and professionals from around the world have made a significant impact on our filmmaking community.”

Bahram Beyzai, 85, is part of a generation of filmmakers in the Iranian New Wave, a Persian cinema movement that started in the late 1960s. The filmmakers share many common techniques including the use of poetic dialog, references to traditional Persian art and culture, and allegorical story-telling often dealing with political and philosophical issues.

Already known for his groundbreaking work as a theater director, Beyzai helped catalyze a new era of Iranian cinema.

His debut feature “Downpour,” made in 1972, is regarded as one of the most successful Iranian films ever made.

His other films include “Stranger and the Fog” (1974), “Crow” (1976), “Ballad of Tara” (1979), “Bashu, the Little Stranger” (1986), “Maybe Another Time” (1988), “Travelers” (1992), “Killing Mad Dogs” (2001), and “When We are All Asleep” (2009).

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

He is respected for his style of pure Persian writing and for choosing mythical Persian figures and stories. His research on the history of Iran’s theater led to the publication of “A Study on Iranian Theater,” in 1965. He is the first Iranian scholar to publish books on theater in Japan and China.

Some of his plays have been translated into several languages and shown in many countries.

In addition to Beyzai, Yegane Moghaddam, a young Iranian director, has also been invited to join the Academy members.

She is known as the director of the short animation “Our Uniform” which was one of the nominees in the Animated Short Film category of the 96th Academy Awards.

Moghaddam is an animator and illustrator who has a strong passion for nature, culture, and reality. In her films, she tries to find a voice for beings who usually don't have a voice.

Her student short animation “On the Cover” (2018) gained global attention. Later, she continued creating films and visuals for ecological events. In addition, she has authored the first ecological comic book series for children, published in Iran, titled “The Little Forester”.

SS/SAB