Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Mohsen Makhmalbaf Ostād'ali (Persian محسن استادعلی مخملباف; * May 29, 1957 in Tehran ) is an Iranian film director and writer. His films were often shown at international film festivals and received many prestigious international awards.
Biography
Makhmalbaf was born in a poor family in south Tehran. Between 8 and 17 years of age Makhmalbaf had held 13 different activities. In 1974, Makhmalbaf was arrested because he tried to disarm a police officer. Only after the Islamic revolution in 1979, he was released from prison. Shortly thereafter, he left politics and focused on the field of culture in Iran. So he began to write books and make films. Today, he has published more than 27 books, many of which have been translated into more than ten languages. His films have been shown in more than 40 countries. Some movies, however, were banned in Iran. Even the director Abbas Kiarostami had built his film Close-up on Makhmalbaf's popularity in Iran.
In recent years, he had also encouraged his family to filmmaking and taught. His wife turned Marziyeh Meshkini been two successful films and his older daughter Samira Makhmalbaf even received the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003 for five clock in the afternoon. His younger daughter Hana Makhmalbaf and his son Maysam Makhmalbaf now have each made a film. Makhmalbaf also founded a non-governmental organization that has the goal of enabling Afghan children to attend school in Iran. By means of a change in Iranian law because of his campaign, which was also addressed in his film trip to Kandehar, meanwhile, were tens of thousands of Afghan refugee children go to school in Iran. His foundation helped there continues to build schools and hospitals. Today, Mohsen Makhmalbaf has performed internationally and for the current opposition movement in the Islamic Republic of Iran and lives in exile in Paris.