KILLING MAD DOGS: Bahram Beyzai Tribute at FOMO Cinema Tbilisi

This week I'm celebrating actors, directors, editors and artists who are no longer with us, but whose work continues to shape the films we watch and love. Some became icons. Others worked quietly behind the camera. Together, they helped make cinema what it is today.

I'm showing KILLING MAD DOGS in honour of Bahram Beyzai, who passed in Alte 2025 and was one of the most important figures in Iranian cinema. Beyzai spent decades exploring Iranian history, mythology, identity, and social life through films that were often as intellectually ambitious as they were emotionally engaging. KILLING MAD DOGS stands amongst his most accessible works while still containing all the complexity that makes his cinema so rewarding.

Bahram Beyzaie | 2001 | Iran | 2h15m | Presented in the original Persian audio with English subtitles

KILLING MAD DOGS begins with a simple question. What would you do if the person who ruined your life called you from prison asking for help?

Golrokh's husband has disappeared after leaving behind a mountain of debt. Her friends abandon her and the creditors start hounding her. Family members offer sympathy but little assistance. Then, just when things couldn't get worse, her husband is arrested and needs money to secure his release. Against all common sense she sets out to save him.

What follows is one of the most fascinating portraits of modern urban life I've seen in Iranian cinema. Golrokh moves through Tehran meeting former business partners, relatives, acquaintances, and opportunists, each conversation revealing another layer of deception, self-interest, or hidden history. The film gradually transforms into a mystery, a social critique, and a character study all at once.

What makes KILLING MAD DOGS so compelling is the way Beyzai turns every conversation into a negotiation. Nobody simply answers a question. People evade, perform, bargain, lie, confess halfway, then retreat. Golrokh isn't just trying to find money. She's trying to work out which version of reality she's operating in.

Although it was made more than twenty years ago, the film feels remarkably contemporary. It's about financial insecurity, social reputation, corruption, and the impossible task of navigating systems that seem designed to exhaust ordinary people. The details may be specific to Tehran, but the underlying frustrations feel universal.

I also think it makes a fitting companion to THE DESERT OF THE TARTARS, our closing film of the festival. Both are, in very different ways, films about people pursuing something just beyond reach. One looks outward toward society. The other stares into the horizon. Both leave you thinking long after the credits roll.

If you've never seen a Bahram Beyzai film before, this is an excellent place to begin before exploring the rest of his work. After this, I'd point you toward DOWNPOUR, BASHU, THE LITTLE STRANGER and THE TRAVELLERS. Together, they reveal the remarkable range of a filmmaker who moved effortlessly between social realism, myth, history, and modern Iranian life while remaining unmistakably himself.

FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: FOMO Cinema Lounge Bar opens 1 hour before the first screening of the day and closes at 02:00,.serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments including coffee and tea, as well as fresh hot popcorn! Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol from outside allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late!

LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.

HOW TO FIND FOMO: Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us: https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3OTMzMTA2Mjk0MDI5MjM1