Dir. Majid Majidi, featuring: Hossein Mahjoub, Iran, 1999, 90min., Drama
8/11 (sat), 20:00, Uno Port Pier#2 Trailer Theater One time only!
Mohammad, an 8-year-old blind boy with a gentle heart, communicates with nature through touch and hearing. When his boarding school for blind children in Tehran closes for summer, he comes home happily to his loving grandmother and beautiful sisters who live in the vibrant nature of Iran’s countryside. But, Mohammad’s father appears to see him as a burden and sends him away to live with a blind carpenter…. This moving tale is a gift from an Oscar nominated director Majid Majidi (“Children of Heaven”) packed with cinematic miracles. Also surprising is that most of the actors are local non-actors. Grand Prix at Montreal Int’l Film Fest 1999, recommended by Japan’s Ministry of Education.
This excellent film is no longer in the mainstream distribution in Japan. Mr. Majidi graciously granted us permission to screen this film for Japanese children at UPAF this year! Don’t miss this opportunity to watch this amazing film on a big screen, once again outdoors! There will be one screening only. With English subtitles and live voice over readings in Japanese by local actors (so that little children can understand the film).
Majid Majidi
Majid Majidi was born in Teheran in 1959 from an Iranian middle class family. After the Islamic revolution in 1978, his interest in cinema brought him to act in various films, notably “Boycott” (1985) from Mohsen Makhmalbaf. His debut as a director and screenwriter is marked by “Baduk” (1992), his first feature film that was presented at the Directors Fortnight in Cannes. “Children of Heaven” (1997) won the “Best Picture” at Montreal International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Foreign Film Academy Award. “The Color of Paradise” (1999) has also won the “Best Picture” award at Montreal International Film Festival. This film has been selected as one of the best 10 films of year 2000 by Time Magazine and the Critics Picks of the New-York Times. “Baran” has won several major awards worldwide, notably the “Best Picture” award at the 25th Montreal World Film Festival and nominated for the European Film Academy Award. In 2001, during the Afghanistan war, he produced Barefoot to Herat , an emotional documentary on Afghanistan’s refugee camps, that won the Fipresci Award at Thessaloniki Festival. In 2005, he directed “The Willow Tree” that won four awards at the 2005 Fajr Festival in Tehran.
Majjid Majid has received the Douglas Sirk Award in 2001, and the Amici Vittorio de Sica Award in 2003.