Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Mohsen Makhmalbafis an Iranian film director, writer, film editor, and producer. He has made more than 20 feature films, won some 50 awards and been a juror in more than 15 major film festivals. His award-winning films include Kandahar; his latest documentary is The Gardener and latest feature The President...
NationalityIranian
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth29 May 1957
real way film
In many ways, it is very real, because I sat there for 9 days, and it was constantly happening, and that was the 9 days of making the film. But you can't say that it's 100% true, because there are places where I've been intrusive and interfered.
two years style
If I make two films in a year, they'll be different. This is my style - I can't have just one way.
successful tables want
I'm not playing myself. It's a symbolic situation, where I want to introduce a fascist behind the table. I couldn't have had anybody else do that; for it to be successful, I had to do it myself.
people living-my-life easy
I wanted to be left alone to live my life, so it was very easy for people to pretend that they were me.
clothes smugglers beard
I myself had to grow a longer beard and Afghan clothes. I was in danger of being kidnapped by smugglers, though I didn't know it at the time.
hands mirrors pieces
Rumi, who is one of the greatest Persian poets, said that the truth was a mirror in the hands of God. It fell, and broke into pieces. Everybody took a piece of it, and they looked at it and thought they had the truth.
art struggle years
I was in jail four and a half years. When I came out, I continued the same struggle against injustice, but instead of using weapons, I began to use art and cinema.
thinking world afghanistan
The Buddhas had to be destroyed by the Taliban to get the world thinking about Afghanistan.
expression people littles
Because there is so little room for expression otherwise, a lot of people love cinema because they find it a way of expressing themselves.
iran produce shot slip
I was able to slip into Afghanistan for a week. However, I had to go back into Iran to produce my film, shot about two kilometers from the border.
book years obsession
When I came out, and for many years afterwards, it had become a habit for me to sit and read and read and read, like an obsession. I would take 20 books, and not come out until I'd finished them. It took me a while to change that habit.
country years numbers
Do you know that every day, 10 people in Afghanistan are injured by landmines? It will continue for the next 50 years, because the country has the largest number of landmines in the world.
people legs film
When we began filming, these people had legs, but as we were filming, they had been injured and they were brought to the hospital to have their legs amputated, and that's where we found them and asked them to come and be part of the film.
thinking expression iran
It was really bizarre, that Sabzian business. You know I had no interest in being photographed before this incident. But then not just Sabzian—many other people started pretending they were me! One of them actually got married while pretending he was me! My face became publicly recognizable soon after I decided to have a few photographs of me available in public to prevent these sorts of identity thefts. It is really pathetic, if you think of it. Filmmakers and filmmaking is so popular in Iran because all other forms of expression have been denied to people.