The King
Nov 30th, 2009 by pedestrian
Saw this photo of Bahram Beyzaie at the Parvin Etesami festival and was mesmerized by his greatness.
Wow.
[on a side note: Who is Parvin Etesami? If you don't know her, I will briefly introduce her later.]
Never one to remain fully silent, while accepting his award, he lamented the fact that it really belonged to Susan Taslimi, the lead actress in the film, who has for more than three decades lived in Sweden. “this prize belongs to Susan Taslimi who gave me the idea for the film, and who left Iran because of a lack of attention or kindness to her work, a magnificent artist who left at a time when four of her films were banned.” [the film Beyzaie received a prize for was banned for five years before obtaining a permit.]
It is called Bashou, Gharibeyeh Koochak [Bashou, the little stranger] and about a Northern Iranian woman who takes to caring for a war-torn Southern boy.
This was one of the last movies my dad took me to see in Iran and I particularly remember months later, when we had relocated to the Western world and he was talking to the hotel manager where were were staying. As soon as the guy found out we were Iranian, he said: “Wow! So you know Bashou?”
Turned out he’d seen it at an international film festival.
He couldn’t stop gushing.
See also: Bahram Baizai refuses to stage the play of his dreams in the upcoming International Fajr Theater
Well, now you’ve made me go put this on my Netflix queue!
I hope you see it Lola!
Ped,
Wonder if you were you old enough to remember “Gol-e Pamchal”? It was a TV series on a theme similar to Bashu.
I am very curious to know which it is you remember from having seen it as a child. I can no longer access my raw initial response to it; and I was much older than you when I saw it. But I still wonder, how did children respond to it?
Naj, I remember Gol-e Pamchal very vaguely. The song a little bit, and a few images of sitting on the ground watching it. I was too young to remember Bashu as well. I do remember sitting in the theater and also getting teary eyed in some places, and being from the South, for months I was worried that that was the fate of all Southern children. I wasn’t too involved with the woman and don’t remember her (as I was watching the movie), the kid really occupied my mind.
It’s #1 on my queue . . . I should get it at the end of the week.
Great! tell me what you think when you see it …
Oh my God, Ped, thanks again for reminding me of these bits and peaces of our childhood that are forgotten too soon. I remember seeing bashu when I was little, and my parents actually recorded a VHS of it (I don’t know if they copied an original or if they recorded it from IRIB). Anyway I still have the VHS and see it every couple of years, it is such a beautiful movie. And since I am also (50%) southern, I remember the movie making a huge impact on me too when i was little, and being worried about the fate of my cousins on my moms side (bandar abbas).
Shaghayegh, so we are ham-shahri
(or at least ham-ostani, or at least ham-jonoobi 
)
You, Lola and Naj have inspired me to see it again. I will one of these days.