The accomplished twenty-year-old director of THE APPLE returns with this powerful film set on the border between Iran and Iraq. Co-scripted with her father Mohsen Makhmalbaf (GABBEH), BLACKBOARDS follows the path of a clutch of blackboard-toting itinerant male teachers trying to ply their trade in the rough, remote mountainous borderlands. But education is the lowest priority for children carrying contraband and villagers dodging aerial raids. A moving film composed of simple yet eloquent imagery and a heartbreaking story of survival. “Astonishing…totally assured and compelling” Sight and Sound
Blackboards
Directed by Samira Makhmalbaf