Bahrām Beyzaie’s Surreal ‘The Stranger and the Fog’ Is Restored in 4K for 50th Anniversary — Watch Trailer
Samantha Bergeson 08/19/2024Exclusive: The mythical feature was restored by Janus Films and Martin Scorsese's The Film Foundation.
Bahrām Beyzaie‘s iconic feature “The Stranger and the Fog” is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a 4K restoration.
The Iranian New Wave filmmaker released his sophomore film, also titled “Gharibeh va Meh,” in 1974. Set around the northern coast of Iran, “The Stranger and the Fog” begins with a boat drifting onto the shore of a small village. The official synopsis reads: “The beautiful Rana (Parvaneh Massoumi) hopes the stray vessel has brought back her husband, who disappeared a year ago out on the sea. But the only passenger is Ayat (Khosrow Shojazadeh), a wounded stranger with no memory of how he ended up in this land. After gradually proving himself as a member of the community, Ayat upsets the locals by marrying Rana, and then grows increasingly paranoid about intermittently glimpsed figures that vow to avenge his misdeeds from a forgotten past.”
Manouchehr Farid also stars.
The restoration was made possible by Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation through its World Cinema Project, along with Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with writer/director Beyzaie. The funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. The digital restoration is courtesy of Janus Films, which is distributing the film theatrically.
Beyzaie’s follow-up feature “The Ballad of Tara” was banned in Iran upon its 1979 release. Other films include “Bashu, the Little Stranger” and his debut “Downpour,” which ushered in the New Wave. “Downpour” was added to the Criterion Collection in 2020 through Scorsese’s World Cinema Project selections. “Bashu, the Little Stranger” also received a re-release in Tehran theaters in 2015.
Beyzaie is also known for “When We Are All Asleep” and “Killing Mad Dogs.” He was inducted as an Academy member in 2024. Since 2010, Beyzai has taught at Stanford University as a Daryabari Visiting Professor of Iranian Studies; the filmmaker teaches courses in Persian theatre, cinema, and mythology, and has directed several plays, such as his nine-hour-long “Tarabnameh.”
Criterion and Janus Films are both owned by Indian Paintbrush founder Steven Rales. Indian Paintbrush also owns Galerie, an online film club and subscription service that launched in November 2023 with auteur curators like Wes Anderson, Pablo Larraín, Mike Mills, and Karyn Kusama as guest programmers.
“The Stranger and the Fog” 4K restoration premieres August 30 in New York at Film at Lincoln Center, with a national rollout to follow courtesy of Janus Films. Check out the trailer below.
