Blackboards (2000)

Original title

تخته سياه

Directed by

Samira Makhmalbaf

Genre

drama film, war film

Country

Iran, Italy, Japan

Runtime

1h 28m

Rated

All

Rating

6.7 of 10 from 41 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

After a chemical attack, a group of Kurdish refugees struggle to survive while crossing harsh mountains. A band of traveling teachers, carrying blackboards on their backs, try to find students and offer lessons amid the chaos of war.

bleakrealisticsomberrawcontemplativeslow-burnhauntingresilient

What happens

Blackboards (Persian: تخته سیاه, Takhté siah; Kurdish: تەختێ رەش, romanized: Textê Reş) 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. 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 of the Makhmalbaf Productions of Iran, the Italian companies Fabrica and Rai Cinema, and the Japanese company T-Mark. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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