Blackboards
Filmfest 2006

In the brutal mountains of the Iran/Iraq border, two nomadic teachers, Reeboir and Saïd, roam the landscape in search of pupils. They carry their blackboards on their backs, sometimes using them as shelter, camouflage and as shields from gunfire. Makhmalbaf, the youngest filmmaker to have won the Prix du Jury at Cannes, elicits strong performances from a largely non-professional cast and creates a visually powerful and insightful depiction of a people on the edge of a country and a society. Artificial Eye