In Tehran, an elderly father lives with his 12-year-old twin daughters, Massoumeh and Zahra, and his blind wife—who all play themselves in this re-creation of a news story. The strict father has imprisoned his daughters in the family’s home for years. When a social worker locks the father inside, the daughters become free to explore the world outside as their father reflects on his actions. With her hybrid documentary blending reality and fiction with drama, the then-17-year-old Samira Makhmalbaf became the world’s youngest director to participate in the official section of the 1998 Cannes Film Festival with the film’s release. 1998, Iran, 35mm, in Persian and Azerbaijani with English subtitles, 85 min.
Part of Cinema Revived: Timeless Selections from the Vault, an ongoing presentation of notable feature-length films from the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection. Presented in collaboration with Mizna’s 2025 Film Series: Iranian Classics.
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Bio
Born in 1980 in Tehran, Samira Makhmalbaf is a filmmaker and screenwriter. At age 8, she played in The Cyclist, directed by her father, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a celebrated Iranian filmmaker. Screened in more than 30 countries, The Apple was invited to over 100 international film festivals. In 1999, she made her second film, Blackboards, receiving the UNESCO Federico Fellini Honor Award and Italy’s Francois Truffaut Award. Alongside directors Ken Loach, Shohei Imamura, Youssef Chahine, and Sean Penn, Makhmalbaf made one of the 11 episodes of September 11, which premiered at Venice International Film Festival in 2002. Her third feature, At Five in the Afternoon, was the first feature film shot in post-Taliban Afghanistan; the film received the Jury’s Special Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003. Makhmalbaf shot her fourth film in Afghanistan, Two-Legged Horse (2007), receiving the Grand Jury Award of San Sebastián Film Festival in Spain
Accessibility, Content, and Sensory Notes
This film contains references to child abuse.
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