Blackboards DVD

After the success of her award-winning debut, The Apple, Samira Makhmalbaf's second film brought the young director even greater acclaim. In the brutal mountains along the Iran/Iraq border, two nomadic teachers, Reeboir and Said, roam the landscape in search of pupils. They carry their blackboards on their backs, sometimes using them as a shelter, as camouflage and as shields against gunfire. Reeboir encounters a group of young border smugglers for whom education has little meaning, whilst Said becomes involved with some old men seeking a safe route back over the border to Iraq. Makhmalbaf, daughter of the famed Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, elicits strong performances from a largely non-professional cast and creates a visually powerful and insightful depiction of a people on the edge of a country and a society.