Makhmalbaf: Cinema Is Mirror of Society
May 17, 1999 - 0:0
TEHRAN Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the renowned Iranian director returned to Cannes Friday with his entry in competition at the movie festival, and said he hoped his work and cinema in general would help bring about changes back home, an AFP report said. I think cinema can play a very great role in helping to bring about a free Iran, the award-winning director told reporters.
It acts as a mirror of society... and when you look at a mirror, you see what's wrong and what needs changing. Makhmalbaf, whose Time of Love (1990), Salaam Cinema (1994) and Gabbeh (1995) were previously shown at Cannes, has returned to the croisette with The Door. The work is part of three films linked together under the title Ghesse Haye Kish (Tales of Kish) and presented in competition.
The three episodes The Door, Nasser Taghvai's The Greek Boat and Abolfazl Jalili's The Ring are all set on the Island of Kish, located on the Persian Gulf some 15 kilometers (nine miles) off the Iranian coast and known as a duty-free and tourist haven. When you make a movie in Iran you must first submit the scenario for approval and that was not the case in this instance, Makhmalbaf said.
Shooting movies in Iran can sometimes be risky and fortunate, he added. Fortunate in the sense that we don't have to think in terms of the box office and we don't need a huge budget but risky because independent films are always under threat of censorship. The Door, which like the other two tales of Kish is beautifully filmed and resembles a surrealistic sketch, is about a man left with only the door of his house and who roams the barren land of the island.
Jalili, behind the critically acclaimed Det Means Girl, deals in his tale with a young man who arrives illegally on the island to find a job and works to raise money for his studies and to buy a piece of jewelery for his sister. Taghvai's The Greek Boat is about workers on Kish who gather objects that wash up on a beach.
It acts as a mirror of society... and when you look at a mirror, you see what's wrong and what needs changing. Makhmalbaf, whose Time of Love (1990), Salaam Cinema (1994) and Gabbeh (1995) were previously shown at Cannes, has returned to the croisette with The Door. The work is part of three films linked together under the title Ghesse Haye Kish (Tales of Kish) and presented in competition.
The three episodes The Door, Nasser Taghvai's The Greek Boat and Abolfazl Jalili's The Ring are all set on the Island of Kish, located on the Persian Gulf some 15 kilometers (nine miles) off the Iranian coast and known as a duty-free and tourist haven. When you make a movie in Iran you must first submit the scenario for approval and that was not the case in this instance, Makhmalbaf said.
Shooting movies in Iran can sometimes be risky and fortunate, he added. Fortunate in the sense that we don't have to think in terms of the box office and we don't need a huge budget but risky because independent films are always under threat of censorship. The Door, which like the other two tales of Kish is beautifully filmed and resembles a surrealistic sketch, is about a man left with only the door of his house and who roams the barren land of the island.
Jalili, behind the critically acclaimed Det Means Girl, deals in his tale with a young man who arrives illegally on the island to find a job and works to raise money for his studies and to buy a piece of jewelery for his sister. Taghvai's The Greek Boat is about workers on Kish who gather objects that wash up on a beach.