"Four decades later, one can see more clearly than ever how Beyzaie transforms the cinema screen into a window carved from the history and literature of Iran, opening it onto a beautiful and spectacular world." - Mohammad Rasoulof
"BASHU, THE LITTLE STRANGER is a pure joy in which there are absolutely no false moves and both laughter as well as tears. Every movement of the camera, its every placement, its every composition, indeed, every cut in the film is exactly right, serving unobtrusively to tell a story." – Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Sunday, June 7, 3:00 p.m. & Wednesday, June 10, 8:15 p.m. | Five years into the Iran–Iraq War, Bahram Beyzaie created the deeply moving BASHU, THE LITTLE STRANGER. The film follows Bashu, an Arab-Iranian boy who loses his family in the war and finds refuge in a remote, Gilaki-speaking village in northern Iran. There, love and empathy emerge as powerful antidotes to racism and division, while a resilient woman single-handedly sustains her farm, raises her children, and preserves her dignity in the face of a hostile community. Though completed in 1985, the film was banned for several years and was only released in 1989, after the conflict had ended.
Awards & Nominations
Winner - Best Restored Film, 2025 Venice Film Festival
Festival of Films from Iran | June 5–11, 2026
This yearly showcase spotlights the innovation, resilience, and humanism of contemporary Iranian filmmakers and acclaimed Iranian auteurs. For the 37th year of the Festival of Films from Iran, we’re honoring influential Iranian filmmaker Bahram Beyzaie with a limited retrospective and presenting a slate of compelling contemporary films by Iranian and Iranian-diaspora filmmakers.
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu