July 26, 2004

Famous Five
They're not the Kapoors, the Roshans or the Bachchans. This film family goes by the surname Makhmalbaf.

Pallavi Srivas
Expressindia.com

New Delhi, July 21: As children, they played a rather uncommon game -- they made movies. Samira Makhmalbaf began directing films when she was seven and her brother Maysam took on the role of a cinematographer. Still, their father, acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, was taken by surprise when he learnt that all his three children wanted to follow in his footsteps -- making films that are realistic in style and content.

Today, 24-year-old Samira, 23-year-old Maysam, and Hana, 15, are all recognised names in international cinema. So what if Mohsen says about them, "They are crazy. If they look at my final life, they will leave cinema." His face glows when he informs us that the youngsters have even tackled landmines and terrorists in Afghanistan to be able to show the world what they believe in. "Twice in Afghanistan, someone tried to kidnap Hana," recalls the 47-year-old writer-director, who is in town with his children for the ongoing Osian's Cinefan film festival.

But the family remains resolute about their task. "Cinema is one way to change people's lives," says Maysam, who has shot most of his sisters' films. "If we become afraid, how can we live?" His film, How Samira Made The Blackboard, and both Hana's films -- The Day My Aunt Was Ill and Joy of Madness -- are banned in Iran.

Movies mean more to the family than you could possibly imagine. In 1996, they voted for their house to be sold to save one of their father's films. "The producer of A Moment of Innocence agreed to censorship cuts by the government because he wanted to recover his money. We decided to sell our house and pay him off rather than agree to the cuts," recalls Mohsen.

Shortly after, he set up the Makhmalbaf Film House, a production studio and film school. Mohsen's wife Marziyeh Meshkini -- who is not in India for Cinefan -- learned direction in the school for five years. Her film, The Day I Became A Woman, has also won several international awards.

At 18, Samira became the youngest director in the world to participate in the official section of the Cannes Film Festival. Her younger sister Hana too was an early starter. She joined her father's school after she finished second grade and attended Cannes when she was three. The Day My Aunt Was Ill -- a short film -- was screened at Locarno when she was eight. Hana will assist her father in his next two films, which he plans to make in India and Tajikistan.

The one thing that all the siblings thank their father for giving them, besides the art of filmmaking, is their self-confidence. Says Maysam: "He does not interfere. He thinks we would all see the subjects differently at different ages." Adds Samira: "Our aim is not just to be good wives and mothers. In a male-dominated society, you need more self-confidence and bigger desires to be successful."

This Little Girl Went to Film School
Samira Makhmalbaf was just seven when she played a part in her father's film The Cyclist. At 14, she decided to enrol in his school. "She didn't like high school because all they taught there was religion," says Mohsen Makhmalbaf. "At the time I thought she was very young and the job was very tough. But she pushed and pushed." Her career graph since then has proved that she was right to do so.

At 17, Samira directed her debut film, The Apple. A year later, she went on to become the youngest director in the world to participate in the official section of the Cannes Film Festival.

In 2000, Samira became the youngest director to win the Jury Prize at Cannes for her second feature film, The Blackboard. Her last film, At Five In The Afternoon, was set in a post-Taliban Afghanistan. It won the Jury Prize at Cannes.

India is not alien territory to this 24 year old. At Five in the Afternoon bagged the Golden Peacock for Best Film at the International Film Festival of India in New Delhi last year.

Sent by Darius Kadivar

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