In his last decade, Taghvai lived quietly, often in Tehran and sometimes returning to the South. Despite ill health, he continued writing and mentoring. He was widely regarded as a living archive of cinematic conscience — a bridge between the artistic past and the uncertain present. When he passed away in October 2025, tributes poured in from across and abroad. Cinematheques screened Captain Khorshid and Tranquility in the Presence of Others; writers and students shared memories of his humility and fierce intelligence.
He gave a vocabulary for dignity, irony, and regional identity. He showed that art could be both political and poetic, both local and universal. His images — the southern horizon, the trembling candlelight, the weary faces of his heroes — remain etched in cultural memory. He was remembered as a man who never betrayed his art, even when silence was his only form of protest.
