Blackboards Explained
Blackboards (fa|تخته سیاه, Takhté siah;) is a 2000 Iranian film directed by Samira Makhmalbaf. It focuses on a group of Kurdish refugees after the chemical bombing of Halabja by Saddam Hussein's Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War. The screenplay was co-written by Makhmalbaf with her father, Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The dialogue is entirely in Kurdish.[1] [2] Makhmalbaf describes it as "something between reality and fiction. Smuggling, being homeless, and people’s efforts to survive are all part of reality... the film, as a whole, is a metaphor."
The film was an international co-production between the Makhmalbaf Productions of Iran, the Italian companies Fabrica and Rai Cinemafiction, and the Japanese company T-Mark.
Cast
- Said Mohamadi as 1.Teacher Saeed
- Behnaz Jafari as Halaleh
- Bahman Ghobadi as 2.Teacher Rebvar
- Mohamad Karim Rahmati as Father
- Rafat Moradi as Pupil Rebvar
Awards
- "Jury Prize", Official Competition section of the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, France.[3]
- "Federico Fellini Honor", UNESCO, Paris, 2000.
- "François Truffaut prize", Giffoni Film Festival in Italy 2000.
- "Giffoni's Mayor Prize", Giffoni Film Festival, Italy, 2000.
- "Special cultural Prize", UNESCO, Paris, 2000.
- "The Grand Jury prize", American Film Institute, USA, 2000
Further reading
- Web site: Rosenbaum . Jonathan . Jonathan Rosenbaum . Mythic Mission (BLACKBOARDS) . 25 April 2003 . The Chicago Reader. Rosenbaum reviews Blackboards and notes parallels with the 1950 Western, Wagon Master, that was conceived, produced, and directed by John Ford.
Notes and References
- Web site: Makhmalbaf Film House: Samira. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20070515165311/http://www.makhmalbaf.com/persons.php?p=4. 15 May 2007.
- Web site: Samira's Interview with Haghighat for the movie The Blackboard / English. 19 July 2008. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090225192141/http://www.makhmalbaf.com/movies.php?m=18. 25 February 2009.
- Web site: Festival de Cannes: Blackboards . 13 October 2009 . festival-cannes.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120308105245/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/5173/year/2000.html . 8 March 2012 .
