Images of Ghajar (DVD)

Two short films written, directed and edited by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, one of Iran's leading filmmakers. Images from the Qajar Dynasty (1993, 18 mins.) was made while Makhmalbaf was working on his acclaimed feature Once Upon a Time, Cinema. It is a fascinating documentary that uses rare photos and early film footage shot during that late nineteenth and early 20th centuries at the Shah's court, along with family portraits and fabulous tile mosaics. This snippet of the past reflects the director's great interest in and extensive research of the era. The School Blown Away by the Wind (1996, 8 mins.) is set in the school for nomad children seen in Makhmalbaf's Gabbeh. In this brief, humanist tale, an old man enters the improvised classroom to revisit memories of his youth. In Farsi with English subtitles.