photo by Hana Makhmalbaf
2000 / 78 mins. / color
Dir. Marzieh Meshkini / Scr. Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Marzieh Meshkini / Cine. Mohamad Ahmadi, Ebrahim Ghafori
Cast: Fatemeh Cherag Akhar, Azizeh Sedighi, Shabnam Tolouei
DCP courtesy Makhmalbaf Film House
Introduced by Richard Peña, Columbia University School of the Arts
Marziyah Meshkini’s first feature – which New Yorker critic Richard Brody called “a masterwork of symbolic cinema” – is divided into three stories, each depicting an Iranian woman at a different stage in her life. A nine-year-old tries to enjoy the last of her childhood privileges before her entry into “womanhood” forces her to give them up; a married woman joins a bicycle race, upending not only her marriage but seemingly the entire patriarchy; and an older widow buys everything she’s ever wanted, now that she can. Meshkini is part of the astonishing Makhmalbaf clan, which might top even the Hustons for having made more worthwhile films than any other extended family. Her husband, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, collaborated with Meshkini on the screenplay; her son Maysam Makhmalbaf was both an editor and the still photographer.
– Jack Lechner
About Richard Peña Selects
On the eve of his retirement, Professor Richard Peña has selected six films of particular importance to him and his career, ranging from classic Hollywood noir (Kiss Me Deadly) to one of the last Chinese films made before the Cultural Revolution (Two Stage Sisters) to screen in this three day festival.