Stars: Bahman Ghobadi, Said Mohamadi, Behnaz Jafari

Director: Samira Makhmalbaf

Summary: Hauling blackboards on their backs, two educators venture into the desolate mountainous terrain of Iranian Kurdistan to promote literacy. Going separate ways, the teachers find themselves latching on to respective groups journeying to the Iraqi border. Reeboir (Bahman Ghobadi) joins a group of children acting as 'mules' smuggling contraband into Iraq. Said (Said Mohamadi) meets with a group of elderly Iraqi Kurds who intend to return to their homeland. One of the old men wishes to see his daughter married before he dies and Said, with only his blackboard as a dowry, obliges. The instructors attempt to teach an uninterested populace as their precarious trips lead to the armed border. Samira Makhmalbaf became the youngest recipient of the Grand Jury Prize in the history of the Cannes Film Festival when she earned the award for this, her sophomore effort, at the age of 20. Co-scripted with her father Mohsen Makhmalbaf, one of the world's most respected filmmakers, BLACKBOARDS combines pathos with an unusual sense of humour. The young filmmaker displays a commanding sense of the medium working primarily with non-actors and creating an intense military threat without showing a single gun or soldier.

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Blackboardsis an unusual film. First, it's from Iran; second it's directed by a woman, Samira Makhmalbaf; third, she's only 22. Set near the border with Iraq, the film follows a group of itinerant teachers who wander the countryside looking for students, carrying their blackboards with them. At various points a blackboard comes in useful as cover from gunfire, as a stretcher, and, chopped up, as a splint. Though the film is full of social observation, it functions mainly as allegory. Despite the eagerness of the wandering teachers to impart knowledge, their efforts are largely in vain, and though the film has moments of humour its tone is ultimately rather pessimistic. The director is the daughter of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, himself a noted Iranian director who wrote Samira's earlier film The Apple, a deceptively simple story of two girls who are kept for years in seclusion before social workers order their release. Blackboardsis a more elusive film and won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's thought provoking, often moving and full of insights into an unfamiliar world. --Edward Buscombe

Aspect Ratio:	1.66 Wide Screen
Main Language:	Kurdish
Region:	Region 0
Special Features:	Theatrical Trailer, Making Of Documentary, Production Notes
Subtitles:	English
Year:	2000
Release Date:	July 30, 2001
Runtime:	82 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	A R T 198 D V D
Keywords:	Black, Subtitled, General, Wide, Screen, Drama, Boards, Blackboards, Kurdish, Siah, Takhte
Genre:	Drama