Mohsen Makhmalbaf

Mohsen Makhmalbāf
Born	May 29, 1957 Tehran, Iran
Nationality	Iranian
Years active	1981–present
Spouse(s)	Fatemeh Meshkini (1978–1982) Marzieh Meshkini (1987–present)
Children	Samira (b. 1980) Meysam (b. 1981) Hana (b. 1988)
Awards	Freedom to Create Prize Federico Fellini Honour

Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Persian: محسن مخملباف‎‎, Mohsen Makhmalbaaf; born May 29, 1957) is 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.

Makhmalbaf's films have been widely presented at international film festivals in the past ten years. The director belongs to the new wave movement of Iranian cinema. Time selected Makhmalbaf's 2001 film Kandahar as one of the top 100 films of all time.^[1] In 2006, he was a member of the Jury at the Venice Film Festival.

Makhmalbaf left Iran in 2005 shortly after the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sixth President of Iran, and has lived in Paris since the events of the 2009 Iranian presidential election.^[2]

Life

Makhmalbaf was born in Tehran on May 29, 1957. At the age of 15, he became involved in a militant group fighting against the rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the then Shah of Iran, and at the age of 17 he was imprisoned for stabbing a policeman and sentenced to death. After serving five years of his sentence, he was released in the wake of the Iranian Revolution.^[3][4] He left Iran in 2005.^[5]

Career

Makhmalbaf (childhood)

Makhmalbaf is a major figure in Iranian cinema. His films have explored the relationship between the individual and a larger social and political environment. As a result, his work serves as an extended commentary on the historical progression of the Iranian state and its people. Makhmalbaf has worked in several genres, from realist films to fantasy and surrealism, minimalism, and large frescoes of everyday life, with a predilection (common to Iranian directors) for the themes of childhood and cinema.^[6]

In 1981, he wrote the screenplay for Towjeeh, directed by Manuchehr Haghaniparast. In 1982, he wrote the screenplay for Marg Deegari, directed by Mohammad-Reza Honarmand. He made his first film, Tobeh Nosuh, in 1983, and Boycott, a film set in pre-revolutionary Iran, in 1985. The latter tells the story of Valeh (Majid Majidi), a young man sentenced to death for Communist tendencies, and is widely believed to be based on Makhmalbaf's own experiences.

Makhmalbaf portrays human despair, exploitation, and resilience in The Cyclist (1987),^[7] a movie about Nasim, a poor Afghan refugee in Iran in desperate need of money for his ailing wife. Nasim agrees to ride a bicycle in a small circle for one week straight in return for the money he needs to pay his wife's medical bills.

Time of Love (1991) is Makhmalbaf's ninth feature film and the first film of what he calls his "third period".^[8] It is a romantic trilogy that offers three variations of the same story.^[9]

Hana, Marzieh and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, receiving the Cyclo d'Or at the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema in 2009

Makhmalbaf directed Gabbeh in 1996. The film follows the nomadic Ghashghai people, whose bright, bold carpets tell stories. The main thread features a young woman who loves a mysterious stranger but is forbidden to marry him. The film is romantic and non-realistic, with events seeming to leap around in time and space, much like a dream.^[10]

Makhmalbaf took time off from directing in 1996 to form the Makhmalbaf Film House, a school for young filmmakers. It quickly became a private production house for the increasing number of filmmakers in his family. In 1997, his 17-year-old daughter Samira directed The Apple, using him as a scriptwriter and editor. Makhmalbaf's wife, Marziyeh Meshkini, worked as assistant director to her daughter and then took up directing herself.^[11]

Kandahar (2001) is a fictional odyssey inspired by a true story set in Afghanistan before the September 11 attacks, as the Taliban's laws strip women of civil rights and hope and a Western-cultured Afghan woman returns to prevent her sister's suicide during the last eclipse of the 20th century.^[12]

Degrees and honors

• Honorary Degree of Doctor of Literature (PHD) from St Andrews University, Scotland, 2011
• Honorary Degree of Doctor of Cinema (PHD) from Nanterre University, France, 2010
• "Freedom to Create Prize" for his human rights activity and promoting social justice through his art, Art Action, England, 2009
• “Federico Fellini Honor" from UNESCO in Paris, 2001 (France)
• A Moment of Innocence: Among Top Ten Films of the Decade – Awarded by International Festival Directors and Critics 1999.
• Mohsen Makhmalbaf: Selected as the best filmmaker after the revolution by readers of cinema publications, 1988.

Filmography

Year	English title	Original title	Length	Notes
1983	Pure Repentance	Tawba Nasuh	100 minutes
1984	Two Blind Eyes	Do Cheshme Bisoo	102 minutes
	Seeking Refuge	Isti'azah	89 minutes
1986	Boycott	Boycott	95 minutes
1987	The Peddler	Dastforoush	90 minutes
1989	The Cyclist	Bicycleran	83 minutes
	Marriage of the Blessed	Arousi-ye Khouban	70 minutes
1991	Time of Love	Nobat e Asheghi	70 minutes
	The Nights of Zayande-rood	Shabhaye Zayandeh-rood	75 minutes
1992	Once Upon a Time, Cinema	Nasseroddin Shah Actor-e Cinema	92 minutes
1993	Images from the Qajar Period	Tasvir Dar Doran-e Ghajar	18 minutes	Short documentary
	The Artist	Honarpisheh	86 minutes
	Stone and Glass	Sang-o-Shisheh	20 minutes	Short documentary
1995	Hello Cinema	Salaam Cinema	81 minutes	Documentary
1996	Gabbeh		72 minutes
	A Moment of Innocence	Nun va Goldoon	78 minutes
1997	The School the Wind Blew Away	Madrese-i ke bad bord	8 minutes	Short
1998	The Silence	Sokout	74 minutes
1999	Tales of Kish	Ghessé hayé kish	72 minutes	Segment The Door
2000	Tales of an Island	Dastanhaye Jazireh	76 minutes	Segment Testing Democracy
2001	Kandahar	Safar-e Ghandehar	85 minutes
	The Afghan Alphabet	Alefbay-e afghan	46 minutes	Documentary
2005	Sex & Philosophy	Sex o phalsapheh	102 minutes
2006	Scream of the Ants	Faryad moorcheha	85 minutes
	The Chair	Sandali	8 minutes	Short
2009	The Man Who Came with the Snow		75 minutes	Co-directed with Marzieh Meshkini
2012	The Gardener	Bagheban	87 minutes	Documentary
2013	The Endless Smile	Labkhande-bi-payan	52 minutes	Documentary
2014	The President		118 minutes
2015	The Tenant		18 minutes	Short

Films banned in Iran

• The Gardener (2012), banned since 2012
• Time of Love (1991), banned since 1990
• The Nights of Zayande-rood (1991), banned since 1990
• A Moment of Innocence (1996), banned from 1996 until 1997
• The Silence (1997), banned from 1997 until 2000
• Once Upon a Time, Cinema (1992), banned from 1992 until 1993

Film appearances

• Marriage of the Blessed (1989), directed by himself
• Close-Up (1990), directed by Abbas Kiarostami
• Hello Cinema (1995), directed by himself
• A Moment of Innocence (1996), directed by himself
• Tales of an Island (2000), directed by himself and Dariush Mehrjui

Books on Makhmalbaf

• Hamid Dabashi, Close Up: Iranian Cinema, Past, Present and Future. (Chapter on Makhmalbaf). Verso, 2001.^[13]
• Hamid Dabashi, Like Light from the Heart of Darkness. Sakuhinsha, Japan, 2004.^[14]
• Hamid Dabashi, Masters & Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema: (Chapter XI: Mohsen Makhmalbaf: A Moment of Innocence. pp. 325–368). Mage Publishers, 2007. ISBN 0-934211-85-X.^[15]
• Hamid Dabashi, Makhmalbaf at Large: The Making of a Rebel Filmmaker. I. B. Tauris, 2007.
• The Peddler: (Director’s interview, Screenplay, Reviews, and Study) Compiled by Ebrahim Nabavi, 1989.
• Salam Cinema: (Screenplay, Interviews, Reviews, and Study) Compiled by Amir Khosravi, 1996.
• Gabbeh: (Photographs with along Screenplay) Photography by: Mohammad Ahmadi, 1996.
• Silence: (Photographs with along Screenplay) Photography by: Maysam Makhmalbaf, 1998.
• Mohsen Makhmalbaf: (Review and Study) Compiled by: Alberto Barbara (in Italian), 1996.
• Makhmalbaf’s Broken Mirrors: (Review and Study) Compiled by: Lyrid Dijeon (in English), 2000.
• Introducing of Mohsen Makhmalbaf and his works: (Review and Study) Compiled by: Baharlou, 1995 (second print: 1998).
• "Salaam Cinema, Films of Makhmalbaf Family" by Pusan International Film Festival, 2000.
• "The Films Of Makhmalbaf (Cinema, Politics & culture In Iran)" by: Eric Egan, 2005.
• " Makhmalbaf at Large" (Review and Study) by: Hamid Dabashi, 2008.
• "Mohsen Makhmalbaf: From Discourse to Dialogue" (Review and Study) by: Fernando González García, 2008.

See also

• Persian cinema

Notes

1. "All-Time 100 Movies". Time. February 12, 2005. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
2. Guardian 2009 article
3. http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/100855/Mohsen-Makhmalbaf/biography
4. http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/aug/10/the-presidents-mohsen-makhmalbaf-theres-a-little-shah-in-all-of-us
5. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/22/world/meast/iran-film-director/
6. La Biennale di Venezia
7. Mohsen Makhmalbaf
8. MacFarquhar, Neil (June 8, 1997). "1997 New York Times article describing the four periods into which Makhmalbaf divides his work.". The New York Times. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
9. http://www.offscreen.com/biblio/essays/time_of_love/
10. Combustible Celluloid film review – Gabbeh (1996), Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Shaghayegh Djodat, Hossein Moharami, dvd review
11. Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson , ed. Film History. 3rd. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 610. Print.
12. Axmaker, Sean (October 1, 2002). "Haunting 'Kandahar' a stark, surreal odyssey". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
13. Hamid Habashi. "Close Up: Iranian Cinema". Versobooks.com. Archived from the original on March 29, 2008. Retrieved September 7, 2010.
14. Archived February 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
15. "Persian Poetry and Shahnameh Books – Culture of Iran from Mage Publishers". Mage.com. Retrieved September 7, 2010.

External links

• Makhmalbaf Film House (Official Website of Makhmalbaf's family: Mohsen – Marzieh – Samira – Maysam – Hana)
• Mohsen Makhmalbaf at the Internet Movie Database
• Firouzan Films Iranian Movie Hall of Fame Inductee Mohsen Makhmalbaf
• Worlds Transformed: Iranian Cinema and Social Vision
• Mohsen Makhmalbaf: Retrospective by Donato Totaro (1997)