Bahram Beyzaie Awarded Honorary Degree in St Andrews

The renowned Iranian film director and playwright was made an honorary doctorate by the University of St Andrews, Fife, on June 20.

The critically-acclaimed Beyzaie, 78, is the first Iranian who was awarded an honorary degree in recognition of his contribution to the literature and film as an accomplished author, researcher and director in cinema and theater, Iran Theater reported.

In addition to Mr Beyzaei, eleven distinguished individuals have been honored between 20 and 23 June at the Younger Hall.

Mr Beyzai is living in the US now. He teaches at Stanford University in California.

He started his filmmaking career “Ragbar” (Downpour) in 1972, which is regarded as one of the most successful Iranian films. A restored version of “Ragbar” was screened during the ceremony while Mojdeh Shamsaei (his wife and theater actress) performed first act of “The 1001^st Night”.