Blackboards (Persian: 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."[2]

Blackboards
Directed by	Samira Makhmalbaf
Written by	Mohsen Makhmalbaf Samira Makhmalbaf
Starring	Said Mohamadi
Music by	Mohammad-Reza Darvishi
Distributed by	Artificial Eye (UK) Leisure Time Features (USA) Wellspring Media (US DVD)
Release date	25 October 2000 (U.S.)
Running time	85 minutes
Countries	Iran Italy Japan
Language	Kurdish

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

References

Further reading

• Rosenbaum, Jonathan (25 April 2003). "Mythic Mission (BLACKBOARDS)". The Chicago Reader. Rosenbaum reviews Blackboards and notes parallels with the 1950 Western, Wagon Master, that was conceived, produced, and directed by John Ford.

External links

• Takhté siah at IMDb