Hailed as one of the masterpieces of post-revolutionary Iranian cinema, Bashu, the Little Stranger opens during an Iraqi air-raid on a small Iranian village bordering the war-front in Khuzestan. When 10-year old Bashu’s loses his home and his entire family in the raid he takes refuge in a truck that unexpectedly drives north, close to the Russian border. There he is assumed to be ‘wild’ because of his incomprehensible dialect and dark skin; only Nai, a mother of two whose husband is away for work, takes pity on him. Soon she and Bashu weave a relationship strong enough that Bashu’s traumatic experience with the war makes way for hope and trust. In Persian, Arabic and Gilaki w/English subtitles.

Born in 1938 in Tehran, Beizai studied literature at Tehran University. He began his career as a playwright, later venturing into cinema with the short films, Amoo Sibilou (Uncle Moustache, 1969) and Safar (The Journey, 1970). His first feature-length film Ragbar (Downpour, 1971) earned him critical and popular success One of Iran’s most renowned directors and screenwriters, Barzai is an auteur film-maker whose works draw inspiration from national mythologies to reflect on modern and contemporay Itan.

His rich filmography includes: Gharibeh va Meh (The Stranger and the Fog, 1974), Kalagh (The Raven, 1976), Tcherike-ye Tara (Ballad of Tara, 1979), Marg Yazdgerd (Death of Yazdgerd, 1982), Bashu (Bashu the Little Stranger, 1986), Shayad Vaghti Deegar (Maybe Another Time, 1988), Mosaferan (Travelers, 1992), Sagkosji (Killing Mad Dogs, 2001), Ghali-e Sokhangoo (The Talking Carpet, 2006).