Blackboards


Blackboards 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.

Plot

Following a bombing in Iranian Kurdistan, schoolteachers wander from village to village in search of students.
One of them comes across a group of teenagers working as "mules," smuggling goods across the border into Iraq. Despite the teachers' efforts, none of them is interested in learning—except for the young Rêbwar.
Another teacher meets a group of elderly men trying to return to their native land to spend their final days. One of them is traveling with his daughter, a young widow, and her son. The teacher decides to follow them.

Cast

Awards