Ala Mohseni Discusses His New Documentary "Ayyar e Tanha" About Bahram Beyzaie

Stanford Iranian Studies Program

Filmmaker Ala Mohseni will discuss his new documentary "Ayyar e Tanha." It documents the particular situation in Iran that forced an acclaimed and distinguished artist like Bahram Beyzaie to leave his homeland and live in exile. Please watch the film at your convenience and join for the live discussion: https://www.radiofarda.com/a/30905487.html Please note: the film and the conversation are in Persian/Farsi. Born in Tehran, Iran, Ala Mohseni began pursuing his interest in theater in 1991, while studying physics. He acted in plays by several well-known Iranian directors, including Bahram Beyzaie; he then completed a course in filmmaking at the IYCS (Iranian Youth Cinema Society). In 2004, he directed “The Life”, a documentary on one of the pioneers of Iranian cinema, Nosrat Karimi. This film has been prohibited to screen in Iran. He later attended a masterclass workshop by the legendary Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, then a BBC documentary workshop. Ala Mohseni’s 2008 documentary “My City Pizza”, about the huge popularity of pizza in the Iranian capital Tehran, was praised for its comedy and awarded in festivals around the world. The IDFA awarded Mohseni the Jan Vrijman Fund in 2009 for his project “Hidden Kisses” – a film he was unable to complete because of civil strife in Iran after the 2009 presidential election. He moved to California a year later and earned an MFA in Film at the California College of the Arts. His latest films are “Kiosk, A Generation Destroyed By Madness”, “My Stealthy Freedom”, "Metamorphosis, Iranian Style", “Kamran Tull”. Bahram Beyzaie is one of Iran's most acclaimed filmmakers, playwrights, and scholars of the history of Iranian theater, both secular and religious. He is currently the Daryabari Visiting Lecturer in the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies at Stanford University.