Downpour

Part of the film series
Iranian New Wave 1960s-1970s (November 2 - 22, 2013)

Downpour
Bahram Beyzaie. 1972. Iran. 128 min. B/W. Digibeta. With English subtitles.

A teacher has been transferred to a school in a poor and conservative district. He encounters the beautiful sister of a student and develops feelings for her. Although this young woman is intrigued by his attention, she is already engaged to a local butcher. In this small community where social codes are strictly followed, gossip about the two soon starts to spread. Suddenly this modern intellectual finds himself under bizarre surveillance. This feature debut evokes French New Wave for its youthful impulse and Italian Neorealism for its realistic portrayal of local life. (Restored by the World Cinema Foundation at Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in 2011. Funding provided by Doha Film Institute.)

Bahram Beyzaie (1938- ) is one of the most significant cultural figures in Iran. Hailing from a literary family, Beyzaie is an esteemed filmmaker, playwright, and scholar of Iranian theater. He is especially knowledgeable of the Naqqali and Ta’zieh theater forms. Other films he has made include The Stranger and the Fog (1973), Crow (1976), Death of the King (1982), and Dialogue with the Wind (1998).
 

This film series is organized in conjunction with the Iran Modern exhibition, on view through January 5, 2014. Public programs held in conjunction with Iran Modern are made possible by support from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art through Asia Society’s ongoing initiative Creative Voices of Muslim Asia. Additional support for Iran Modern programming is provided by the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, WLS Spencer Foundation and the American Institute of Iranian Studies.