GABBEH, march 11

Our flight around the world stops in Iran this week. We start with

GABBEH
Mohsen Makhmalbaf



The directors life story is film worthy. The director was a poor
boy from the city of Tehran he began working to support his family
 at the tender age of 8. By 15 he had formed an under-ground Islamic
 militia group. At 17 he was shot when trying to disarm a police
officer he was thrown into jail. He spent his four years there,
educating himself. After he was out he decided to write and make films.

Abbas Kiarostami and Mohsen Makhmalbaf are considered to be responsible
for the worlds recognition of Iranian cinema.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf also started a film school in Iran his children and
family being its star pupils his daughter Samira made APPLE at the tender
age of 18. It won the Cannes special jury award. We are screening that
next on Thursday do come.

GABBEH is a film popular amongst NID faculty to introduce the colour
course. A gabbeh carpet is a triple hand-knotted carpet crafted almost
exclusively by women from Qashqai tribes in southwestern Iran.
The film follows the story of tribal girl the carpet she weaves and the
love she waits for.



They say that Iranian  new wave borrows it style from the
Italian neo realisim and the art films from their European
counter parts But many people argue that the Iranian film making
style is purely theirs. Their films drift in and out of reality
effortlessly. They bridge the gap between documentary and fiction.
The frames are picturesque and the stories quaint and lovely.
There is something so humanistic about their films  that  they
appeal to everyone.

We will be beginning today’s screening with an animation package
from R.C.A.

poster--> Shreyas R Krishnan