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
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.
chance notice walk watch
I like to watch people, but now when I walk on the streets, before I get a chance to watch them, they notice me, and look at me.
close moment
But yes, of course, in many other films, there's a part of me that does appear, for example, in Close Up, and A Moment Of Innocence.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
dirty mind world
The question in their minds was, why did the outside world, and particularly the Western world, produce all these landmines, and send them to Afghanistan? This business must be stopped. It's a dirty business to produce such a horrible device.
iran film made
From my films, you can at least learn about Iran, you can get a sense of the history and the society. But no such films have been made about Afghanistan, so you really can't know much about it.
artist people kind
Usually people like to categorise artists. With my films, I categorise people: if I know which one of my movies you like, I can tell which kind of a person you are.
film made afghanistan
But also, there are no films being made about Afghanistan.
culture reason afghanistan
Afghan society is very complex, and Afghanistan has a very complex culture. Part of the reason it has remained unknown is because of this complexity.
morning reading thinking
From 7 in the morning to 11 at night, I was reading. I don't think one can find any other time in one's life to be left alone so much to read in peace like that.