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Blackboards
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Wikipedia article
'Blackboards' (, 'Takht siah') 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 IranIraq 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 peoples efforts to survive are all part of reality... the film, as a whole, is a metaphor."
The film was an international co-production between the Makhmalbaf Productions of Iran, the Italian companies Fabrica and Rai Cinemafiction, and the Japanese company T-Mark.
Cast
* Said Mohamadi as 1.Teacher Saeed
* Behnaz Jafari as Halaleh
* Bahman Ghobadi as 2.Teacher Rebvar
* Mohamad Karim Rahmati as Father
* Rafat Moradi as Pupil Rebvar
Awards
* "Jury Prize", Official Competition section of the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, France.
* "Federico Fellini Honor", UNESCO, Paris, 2000.
* "Franois Truffaut prize", Giffoni Film Festival in Italy 2000.
* "Giffoni's Mayor Prize", Giffoni Film Festival, Italy, 2000.
* "Special cultural Prize", UNESCO, Paris, 2000.
* "The Grand Jury prize", American Film Institute, USA, 2000
References
Further reading
* Rosenbaum reviews 'Blackboards' and notes parallels with the 1950 Western, 'Wagon Master', that was conceived, produced, and directed by John Ford.
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