House of Makhmalbaf Present
Seven Short Films by the Family of Mohsen Makhmalbaf. For more information, you may go to their website at www.makhmalbaf.com
Short films by Mohsen Makhmalbaf
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The Closed Eyes of Mohsen
Kristin Mason of Channel Five in France conducted a 16-minute interview with Mohsen Makhmalbaf at the 1998 Venice Festival about his film Silence. The interview turned out so well, in 2000 it was turned into a documentary called The Closed Eyes of Mohsen. The film consists of the interview book-ended by scenes from Silence at the beginning and end. It was screened at a number of festivals as a French production.
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The Chair (2006, 8 min., color)
- Scriptwriter, Editor, Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
- Cast: Mahmoud Chokrollahi, Mahnour Shadzi
- Cinematographer: Bakhshor
- Sound Recorder: Jagadish K
- Mixer: Gokul
- Assistant Director: Bharath Ks, Bakhtiyar Gaharof
- Producer: Makhmalbaf Film House
- Lab: Prasad Film Lab, Chennai
- Country: India, 2006, 8 min., Color, 35mm
Synopsis: Tehran Is the Capital of Iran (1966-79) documents life in a deprived district in the south of Tehran. The images of destitution in Tehran's poor areas is accompanied by a variety of spoken accounts: the official viewpoint on the district's living conditions, what the inhabitants have to say, and occasional extracts read out of school manuals. The key element in Shirdel's film is the counterpoint effect he creates with image and sound. His impressively powerful portrayal of social unease helps reinforce the impact of his astonishing documentary images and social themes. -
The Door (1999, 20 min., color)
- Script writer & Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
- Assistant Director: Marziyeh Meshkini
- Editor: Maysam Makhmalbaf
- Script Supervisor: Hana Makhmalbaf
- Director of Photography: Mohammad Ahmadi
- Cast: Mohhamad Nabhan, Nourieh Mahigiran
- Sound: Nezam Kiaee
- Producer: Kish Island
- Comments: This film is one episode of: The stories of Kish, which was first screened in competition of Cannes Film Festival, 1999. 22 Minutes
Synopsis: An old man carries a worn-out wooden door, the last remainder of his belongings, on his shoulders in the desert, as his masked daughter along with a goat follow him. The postman comes with a bicycle and brings a letter for the door that the old man is carrying on his shoulders. The old man puts down the door from his back and opens the door to get the letter from the postman. But when he notices that it is a love letter for his daughter he tears the letter, closes the door and puts it on his shoulders and goes on until. . . . . -
Wind, Ruined the School (1977, 8 min., color)
- Screenwriter, Editor & Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
- Director of Photography: Mahmoud Kalari
- Music: Hossein Alizadeh
- Sound: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
- till Photographer: Mohammad Ahmadi
- Cast: Abbas Sayyahi, Mohammad-Hassan Karami, Abdollah Jahanpour, Tahmineh Jahanpour, Maryam Jahanpour, Marziyeh Jahanpour, Zahra Jahanpour, Afrasiab Jahanpour
- 1997, color, 8 mins
Synopsis:An old man enters a nomadic school. The teacher believes him to be an inspector from the Training and Educational Ministry, so he lets him ask some questions of the class to determine what the average I.Q. is. While he asks the questions, he gets the students to be witness to the fact that he didn’ t steal the school’ s tent, but it that it was the wind’ s fault. Then the old man tells the teacher that he is not an inspector, but was once a teacher like him in times past, and has now come to the nomadic school to refresh his memories. -
Images from the Qajar Dynasty (1993, 18 min., B&W and color)
- Screenwriter, Editor & Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
- Director of Photography: Aziz Sa’ ati
- Music: Ahmad Pezhman
- Sound: Ahmad Kalantari
- 1993, color / B&W, 18 min
Synopsis: A documentary report on paintings, photographs and the first cinematographic images produced in Iran, a full ninety years ago.
Short films by Samira Makhmalbaf
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September 11 (Segment: “God, Construction and Destruction”) (2001, 11 min., color)
- Script and Direction: Samira Makhmalbaf
- Director of photography: Ebrahim Ghafouri
- Assistant Cameramen: Housein Amiri, Hashem Gerami
- Sound: Sasan Bagherpour
- Assistant Director: Marzieh Meshkini
- Assistant of Scene: Akbar Meshkini
- Script Supervisor: Hana Makhmalbaf
- Exc. Manager: Siamak Alagheh-band
- Photo: Mohammad Ahmadi
- Sound Mix: Houssein Mahdavi
- Editor: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
- Assistant Editor: Mastaneh Mohajer
- Producer: Universal Company
- French Executive: Galatte Film
- Time: 11 min., 9 second, 1 frame
- 35mm, Color, 1-1/86
Synopsis:After the Sept. 11th incident the Afghan refugees living in Iran were worried that America might attack Afghanistan. Despite the concerns about America’ s attack, a teacher gathers her Afghan students and makes an effort to have the children observe a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims of the attack. But the children are not able to understand the significance of the event. Eventually the teacher takes them beside a very tall brick-baking furnace and tells the children: “The New York tower is something like this furnace.” Then she asks the children to stay silent for a minute for the victims of the New York tower next to the chimney, with thick smoke spewing out of it.
Short films by Hana Makhmalbaf
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The Day My Aunt Was Ill (1997, 30 min., color)
- Scriptwriter & Director: Hana Makhmalbaf
- Camera: Maysam Makhmalbaf
- Editor: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
- Cast: Sara Saghari Saz, Zahra Saghari Saz, Abolfazle Saghari Saz, Asghar Meshkini, Mahbobeh Meshkini
- Production: Makhmalbaf Film House
- IRAN, Betacam, 24.30 Mins.Transfer to 35mm
Synopsis:When Hana’ s aunt goes to the hospital to have a nose job, grandpa comes to take care of the kids. The kids go play in the alley, but grandpa suggests that they’ d come back home to be on the safe side. They agree to return home on the one condition that they be allowed to use the video camera to make a movie...
Short film by Marziyeh Meshkini
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The Day I Became a Woman, 1st Episode (2001)
- Director: Marziyeh Meshkini
- Scriptwriter: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
- Director of Photography: Ebrahim Ghafouri, Mohammad Ahmadi
- Sound: Behrouz Shahamat
- Music: Mohammad Reza Darvishi
- Assistant Director: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
- Script Supervisor : Hana Makhmalbaf
- Still Photographer: Maysam Makhmalbaf, Hana Makhmalbaf
- Editors: Shahrzad Poya, Maysam Makhmalbaf
- Set Designer: Akbar Meshkini
- Cast: Fatemeh cheragh Akhar..... Hava
- Shabnam Toloui...Woman in Episode Two
- Azizeh Sedighi...Old woman in Episode Three
- Production: Makhmalbaf Film House
- Iran, 2000, 78 Mins, 35 mm, Color
Episode One – Havva :One morning a small girl named Hava wakes up and notices that she has become a woman. She is now nine years old, and playing in the streets with the boys is considered a sin from that day on. Hava cries and asks her grandmother if she may go to the street for one last goodbye with the boys.Time: 25
