Blackboards

Story

Synopsis

Itinerant Kurdish teachers, carrying blackboards on their backs, look for students in the hills and villages of Iran, near the Iraqi border during the Iran-Iraq war. Said falls in with a group of old men looking for their bombed-out village; he offers to guide them, and takes as his wife Halaleh, the clan's lone woman, a widow with a young son. Reeboir attaches himself to a dozen pre-teen boys weighed down by contraband they carry across the border; they're mules, always on the move. Said and Reeboir try to teach as their potential students keep walking. Danger is close; armed soldiers patrol the skies, the roads, and the border. Is there a role for a teacher? Is there hope?

Director

Samira Makhmalbaf

Writers

Samira Makhmalbaf, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Zaheer Qureshi

Language

Persian

Country

Iran, Italy, Japan

Release date

1 September 2000

Ensemble

Cast

• Said Mohamadi

  Said

• 

  Behnaz Jafari

  Halaleh

• 

  Bahman Ghobadi

  Rebwar

• Mohamad Karim Rahmati

  Father

• Rafat Moradi

  Ribwar

• Mayas Rostami

  Young boy storyteller

• Saman Akbari

  Group leader

• 

  Ahmad Bahrami

  Marriage registrar

• Mohamad Moradi

  Match maker

• Karim Moradi

  Old man

• Hassan Mohamadi

  Child

• Rasool Mohamadi

  The boy porter