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Blackboards
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Blackboards

2000-09-01 · 85 min · ★ 6.7

Drama · History · War

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?

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Production details

Directors
Samira Makhmalbaf
Production companies
Fabrica, Makhmalbaf Film House Productions, RAI Cinema, T-Mark
Countries
Iran, Italy, Japan
Status
Released

Top Cast

Said MohamadiSaid
Behnaz JafariBehnaz JafariHalaleh
Bahman GhobadiBahman GhobadiRebwar
Mohamad Karim RahmatiFather
Rafat MoradiRibwar
Mayas RostamiYoung boy storyteller
Saman AkbariGroup leader
Ahmad BahramiAhmad BahramiMarriage registrar
Karim MoradiOld man
Hassan MohamadiChild
Rasool MohamadiThe boy porter
Somaye VeiseeLittle girl

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