Blackboards 2000
6.8 / 10
Blackboards
Itinerant Kurdish teachers, carrying blackboards on their backs, look for students in the hills and villages of Iran, near the Iraqi border during the Iran-Iraq war. Said falls in with a group of old men looking for their bombed-out village; he offers to guide them, and takes as his wife Halaleh, the clan's lone woman, a widow with a young son. Reeboir attaches himself to a dozen pre-teen boys weighed down by contraband they carry across the border; they're mules, always on the move. Said and Reeboir try to teach as their potential students keep walking. Danger is close; armed soldiers patrol the skies, the roads, and the border. Is there a role for a teacher? Is there hope?
Itinerant Kurdish teachers, carrying blackboards on their backs, look for students in the hills and villages of Iran, near the Iraqi border during the Iran-Iraq war. Said falls in with a group of old men looking for their bombed-out village; he offers to guide them, and takes as his wife Halaleh, the clan's lone woman, a widow with a young son. Reeboir attaches himself to a dozen pre-teen boys weighed down by contraband they carry across the border; they're mules, always on the move. Said and Reeboir try to teach as their potential students keep walking. Danger is close; armed soldiers patrol the skies, the roads, and the border. Is there a role for a teacher? Is there hope?
Videos & Photos
All 3 Videos & 3 Photos
cast
Full Cast & Crew
User reviews
See All 1 Reviews23 Jun 2021 by CRCulver
Released in 2000, Blackboards was the second film by Samira Makhmalbaf, daughter of acclaimed Iranian auteur Mohsen Makhmalbaf and a precocious director in her own right. As the film opens, a group of itinerant teachers lug blackboards into the mountains of Iranian Kurdistan, seeking to bring education to this illiterate, impoverished region in exchange for some meagre income. Two of the teachers quickly branch off from the group, and the film follows their adventures. Saïd (Saïd Mohamadi) falls in with a group of nomads trying to get back to their native land across the border in Iraqi Kurdistan. Rebwar (Bahman Ghobadi) meets a group of children transporting contraband over the border. The teacher's efforts to help the locals learn to read and write are rebuffed time and time again, to the point that the film takes on the quality of a play by Samuel Beckett or Harold Pinter. Saïd's attempts to get through to the lone woman in the party (Behnaz Jafari) are the height of absurdism. Samira Makhmalbaf's visual aesthetic is mainly that of her father's early films, and the film evokes the beauty of this mountainous region, as well as the desolation that causes its poverty. And it's cool that the dialogue is in Kurdish, as there aren't so many films available in the West that highlight this people. However, I must say that I found other aspects disappointing. Blackboards makes a thought-provoking point that the poor are too busy surviving to worry about ideals like education, but the script doesn't really hang together. The acting is also inconsistent, with a big disconnect between the professional actors and the local Kurds who were brought on. You might take a chance on Blackboards. I certainly don't regret seeing it, it's memorable and there's some humour. But I remain unsatisfied.
Directors:
Release Date:
Sep 01, 2000 (Iran, Islamic Republic Of,Italy,Japan)
Run Time:
1hr 25`
MMPA Rating:
Original Language:
Persian
Production Countries:
Iran, Islamic Republic Of,Italy,Japan
Status:
Released
Plot Keywords:
Related Movies To
Blackboards - Blackboards
Released in 2000, Blackboards was the second film by Samira Makhmalbaf, daughter of acclaimed Iranian auteur Mohsen Makhmalbaf and a precocious director in her own right. As the film opens, a group of itinerant teachers lug blackboards into the mountains of Iranian Kurdistan, seeking to bring education to this illiterate, impoverished region in exchange for some meagre income. Two of the teachers quickly branch off from the group, and the film follows their adventures. Saïd (Saïd Mohamadi) falls in with a group of nomads trying to get back to their native land across the border in Iraqi Kurdistan. Rebwar (Bahman Ghobadi) meets a group of children transporting contraband over the border. The teacher's efforts to help the locals learn to read and write are rebuffed time and time again, to the point that the film takes on the quality of a play by Samuel Beckett or Harold Pinter. Saïd's attempts to get through to the lone woman in the party (Behnaz Jafari) are the height of absurdism. Samira Makhmalbaf's visual aesthetic is mainly that of her father's early films, and the film evokes the beauty of this mountainous region, as well as the desolation that causes its poverty. And it's cool that the dialogue is in Kurdish, as there aren't so many films available in the West that highlight this people. However, I must say that I found other aspects disappointing. Blackboards makes a thought-provoking point that the poor are too busy surviving to worry about ideals like education, but the script doesn't really hang together. The acting is also inconsistent, with a big disconnect between the professional actors and the local Kurds who were brought on. You might take a chance on Blackboards. I certainly don't regret seeing it, it's memorable and there's some humour. But I remain unsatisfied.
Cast & Crew of
Blackboards - Blackboards
Directors & Credit Writers
... Director
Cast
... Said
... Halaleh
... Rebwar
... Father
RM
Rafat Moradi... Ribvar
... Young boy storyteller
SA
Saman Akbari... Group leader
... Marriage registrar
... Match maker
KM
Karim Moradi... Old man
... Child
... The boy porter
... Little girl
... Zinhan
Produced By
... Executive Producer
... Producer
... Associate Producer
Videos & Photos of
Blackboards - Blackboards
Videos ( 3)
Trailer for "Blackboards"
YouTube
Photos ( 3 )
Related Movies To
Blackboards - Blackboards
Reyhane's Freedom (2024)
0 /10
Soheila, whose husband is executed for murder, is sexually assaulted by her brother-in-law after her husband's death. On the night when Soheila is planning to escape from Tehran, her brother-in-law comes to her house, and they get into a drunken fight. Escaping from his hands, Soheila flees to the rooftop, where the brother-in-law loses his balance and falls to his death. Soheila is arrested, and the husband's family demands revenge. A court is convened, and Soheila is sentenced to the death penalty.
Run Time: 1hr 46` . MMPA: . Release: 05 Jul 2024
Director: Abbas Rafei
Producer:
Stars: Roshanak Gerami , Ali Oji , Roya Hosseini , Parivash Javidi
Hoor's Tears (2025)
0 /10
Nana Ali's dinner was left open. The sound of the red siren and the anti -ancestor's voice in the dark depth of the alley worried. Granny Ali's coming from the front to comment on the front, on the session of the Jaluyeh, at the meeting… Twenty years
Run Time: 1hr 21` . MMPA: . Release: 04 Feb 2025
Director: Mehdi Jafari
Producer:
Stars: Roya Afshar , Sareh Rashidi , Tooraj Alvand
Wait Until Spring (2024)
0 /10
Since her husband's suicide, Saman cannot believe and mentally accept what she sees. She acts as if her husband is still alive. How long will this unnatural state of affairs continue? How does a person who suddenly loses a loved one cope with this harsh reality?
Run Time: 1hr 42` . MMPA: . Release: 03 Nov 2024
Director: Ashkan Ashkani
Producer: Maryam Yavarirad , Farzad Pak , Ashkan Ashkani
Stars: Sahar Sotoodeh , Alireza Ostadi , Mahin Sadri , Samrand Maroufi , Mahdieh Nassaj , Mohammad Valizadegan
1001 Frames (2025)
0 /10
In the studio of a well-known director, female actors audition for the role of Scheherazade in “A Thousand and One Nights”. But the women gradually realise that the director has more in mind than just casting the leading role.
Run Time: 1hr 27` . MMPA: . Release: 15 Feb 2025
Director: Mehrnoush Alia
Producer: Sina Sharbafi , Mohammad Aghebati , Mehrnoush Alia
Stars: Mohammad Aghebati , Mahin Sadri , Shayesteh Sajadi , Leili Rashidi , Mahsa Rezaei , Behafarid Ghafarian
Saint Mary (2001)
6.9 /10
In the year 16 BCE, the people of Jerusalem are awaiting the birth of the son of Imran. Instead of the much-anticipated "Messiah", a girl is born to Imran and Anna. The latter names her ...
Run Time: 1hr 50` . MMPA: . Release: 26 Jul 2001
Director: Shahriar Bahrani
Producer:
Stars: Parviz Pourhosseini , Mohammad Kasebi , Hossein Yari , Jafar Dehghan , Shabnam Gholikhani , Maryam Razavi
Tehran Another View (2025)
0 /10
Leyli and Pasha, who were once in a relationship, unexpectedly meet at a mutual friend's wedding. The film immerses us in the heroes' past, showing how they met and how they broke up, unable to choose between love and personal freedom. All this is accompanied by a cheerful soundtrack, turning their story into a thrilling adventure.
Run Time: 1hr 35` . MMPA: . Release: 08 Mar 2025
Director: Ali Behrad
Producer: Ali Mosaffa , Moh Dehgan
Stars: Ali Shadman , Anahita Afshar , Aida Makhiani , Reza Kolavani
Intoxicated by Love (2024)
0 /10
Story of Rumi, his friendship with Shams Tabrizi, the love he had for him and the great influence of Shams over him in his life, his poetry and his love for God.
Run Time: 1hr 58` . MMPA: . Release: 24 Apr 2024
Director: Nafiseh Laleh , Hassan Fathi , Seval Şener
Producer: Mehran Borumand
Stars: Parsa Pirouzfar , Shahab Hosseini , Selma Ergeç , İbrahim Çelikkol , Bensu Soral , Boran Kuzum
Rhino Season (2012)
6.4 /10
Kurdish-Iranian poet Sahel has just been released from a thirty-year prison sentence in Iran. Now the one thing keeping him going is the thought of finding his wife, who thinks he's been dead for over twenty years.
Run Time: 1hr 28` . MMPA: . Release: 25 Oct 2012
Director: Farhad Firouzmand , Ali Farkhonde , Sepehr Mikaeilian
Producer: Menderes Demir , Bahman Ghobadi , Belçim Bilgin
Stars: Behrouz Vossoughi , Monica Bellucci , Caner Cindoruk , Yılmaz Erdoğan , Belçim Bilgin , Arash Labaf
Law of Tehran (2019)
7.8 /10
Samad is nobody’s fool. The narcotics officer has seen his share of a drug dealer’s lies and games, and his patience has come to run thin. While searching for the infamous drug baron Nasser Khakzad, he and his colleague Hamid scour the streets of Tehran, turning an overcrowded prison on its head. With his rough and dubious approach, Samad finally manages to find the criminal’s whereabouts – but things do not quite go according to plan...
Run Time: 2hr 14` . MMPA: NR . Release: 17 Mar 2019
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Producer: Shahab Shafiei , Mohammad Sadegh Ranjkeshan , Jamal Sadatian
Stars: Payman Maadi , Navid Mohammadzade , Parinaz Izadyar , Farhad Aslani , Houman Kiai , Maziar Seyedi
Life and a Day (2016)
8.2 /10
Somaieh, the youngest daughter of an indigent family, is getting married and fear is overwhelming each and every member of the family regarding how to overcome their difficulties after she's gone.
Run Time: 1hr 52` . MMPA: . Release: 16 Mar 2016
Director: Maziar Miri , Saeed Roustaee
Producer:
Stars: Payman Maadi , Parinaz Izadyar , Navid Mohammadzade , Shabnam Moghadami , Rima Raminfar , Mahdi Gorbani
A Hero (2021)
7.5 /10
Rahim is in prison because of a debt he was unable to repay. During a two-day leave, he tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint against the payment of part of the sum. But things don't go as planned. Is he truly a hero?
Run Time: 2hr 7` . MMPA: PG-13 . Release: 15 Dec 2021
Director: Asghar Farhadi , Amin Khankal
Producer: Mohammad Yamini , Olivier Père , Alexandre Mallet-Guy
Stars: Amir Jadidi , Mohsen Tanabande , Fereshteh Sadr Orafaee , Maryam Shahdaie , Sahar Goldust , Ehsan Goodarzi
Baran (2001)
7.8 /10
On a building site in present-day Tehran, Lateef, a 17-year-old Turkish worker is irresistibly drawn to Rahmat, a young Afghan worker. The revelation of Rahmat's secret changes both their lives.
Run Time: 1hr 30` . MMPA: PG . Release: 31 Jan 2001
Director: Sirrus Hassanpur , Majid Majidi , Behzad Rafi
Producer: Seyyed Saeed Seyedzadeh , Majid Majidi , Fouad Nahas
Stars: Hossein Abedini , Zahra Bahrami , Reza Naji , Hossein Mahjoub , Abbas Rahimi , Gholam Ali Bakhshi