Stardust Stricken, Mohsen Makhmalbaf: A Portrait

Director
Houshang Golmakani
Producer
Houshang Golmakani
Year
1996
Spoken
Persian
Subtitle
English
Country
Iran
Length
70
Format
VHS/NTSC
Off
Description

This video dodumentary provides the pewrfect introduction to the early life and works of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a controversial filmmaker (Marriage of the Blessed, The Actor) whose career development is unprecedented in Iranian cinema. Born in a poor quarter of Tehran, Mkhmalbaf worked from a young age to help support his family. As a teenager, he engaged in clandestine political activity through a guerilla group he helped organize. While trying to disarm apolicema, he was shot and arrested. Released in 1979, afte nearly four years behind bars (an experience he dramatizes in the new facets release BOYCOTT), makhmalbaf left direct political activity in order to embrace literature and cinema. Although he started off as a fundamentalist artist and filmmaker, his views evolved tremendously. In this portrait, produced by the respected Iranian film critic Houshang Golmakani, Mohsen makhmalbaf speaks about his life, childhood, political and cultural activities, his style, and his beliefs about art, cinema, violence, kindness, God, religion and death.