Posted on the L.A. Times website on July 24 by Alexandra Sandels and Ramin Mostaghim, a piece about the filmmaker of an acclaimed documentary we open at the Music Hall on August 2, THE GARDENER.
BEIRUT — Iran’s expatriate filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf is facing withering condemnation in his homeland for attending a film festival in Israel, the Islamic Republi’s archfoe.
The acclaimed director, considered a pioneer of moviemaking in Iran, traveled to the Jerusalem Film Festival this month to screen his latest work, “The Gardener,” which explores the conflict between two generations about the role of religion in society.
Javad Shamgdari, the head of Iran’s official cinema organization, penned a letter to the leadership of the Iranian cinema museum demanding the removal of all of the director’s awards and trophies.
“Makhmalbaf made his first 10 films in Iran using the money of the state-run organizations to learn cinema,” Shamgdari was quoted as saying by the semiofficial Mehr news agency. “Now he has fallen into the arms of the occupier, the murderous Zionist regime.”
Read the rest of the Times piece here.
‘Winton Child” Dave Lux will share his story as one of the 669 children rescued by Sir Nicholas Winton on Sunday (8/4), following the 4:40PM screening of 