The Day I Became A Woman

I hope everyone enjoyed last night's screening. I had forgotten that the 35mm print didn't have the same quality of subtitling as the DVD. For instance, it didn't translate the titles of the three stories -- which corresponded to the three central characters. In the first story, the little girl is called 'Hava', which is a version of 'Eve', the 'first woman'. In the second story, the young woman is called 'Ahoo' and this is also the Farsi word for 'deer' -- which are shown twice darting across the landscape as the husband shouts out. In the third story, the old woman is called 'Houra', which (presumably as a deliberate irony) means 'nymph'. The English language script is on the Makhmalbaf website on the film's own page.

The excellent web essay by Adrian Danks on the Makhmalbaf Film House that I quoted in my introduction is on the Senses of Cinema website. There is also an earlier posting on this blog about the Makhmalbafs.

Pen Pictures of directors (2): Iran

The Makhmalbaf Film House

The remarkable family of filmmakers known as the Makhmalbaf Film House (the website is well worth visiting) comprises Mohsen, Marziyeh, Samira, Maysam and Hana. Mohsen spent four and a half years as a teenage militant in the Shah's prison until his release in 1979. This self-educated man has since devoted himself to alleviating the 'cultural poverty' of Iran with books and films which have often fallen foul of the censors. In 1996 he retired from the Iranian 'film industry' and opened a film school in which he taught, amongst others, his own three children and his second wife, Marziyeh. The family have subsequently produced several award-winning films.

Samira is the eldest daughter and has had the most stellar career so far. In 1998, aged 21, she took her film The Apple to Cannes and many other festivals where she won prizes. In 2000 Blackboards won her the Jury Prize at Cannes and a nomination for the Palme d'Or. She contributed to 11'09"01 -- September 11 (2002) and in 2003 directed At 5 in the Afternoon. She is currently working on Two-Legged Horse for 2008 release -- despite a bomb attack on the production in Afghanistan.

Marziyeh Meshkini (pictured above) has worked as assistant director for Mohsen and Samira and has directed two features herself. The Day I Grew Up To Be a Woman (2000) will be shown on the course. Stray Dog (2004) is another product of the Makhmalbaf Film House move to projects in Afghanistan after 2001.

Maysam has so far made one film -- a documentary about the filming by his sister of Blackboards.

Hana is Samira's young sister. Although only 19, she has already made a short film (when she was 9) and a documentary The Joy of Madness (when she was 14) about her sister's experience on At 5 in the Afternoon. She has also published a book of poems.

As is evident from these brief descriptions, the Makhmalbafs all work on each other's films and they are able to finance their productions through the Film House and its partnerships with production companies outside Iran (often in France).