Mohsen Makhmalbaf is a renowned and influential filmmaker, widely recognized as a founder of the new wave of Iranian cinema. His body of work includes critically acclaimed films such as Salam Cinema, A Moment Of Innocence, Gabbeh, Kandahar, and The President, which have garnered over 50 prestigious international awards from esteemed film festivals like Cannes, Venice, and Locarno.
Notably, his film Kandahar has been selected as one of the top 100 best movies in the history of cinema by Times Magazine. Makhmalbaf's prominence as a filmmaker even led to an identity theft, which was later immortalized in the film Close Up by Abbas Kiarostami.
Makhmalbaf has also passed on his passion for cinema to his children. His daughter Samira, who holds the record for being the youngest filmmaker selected for the official section of Cannes at the age of 17, has won the Grand Jury Prize of Cannes twice with her subsequent films. Makhmalbaf's younger daughter, Hana, won the Crystal Bear of Berlin and the Grand Jury Prize of San Sebastian Film Festival with her debut feature film.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf's life has been marked by both creativity and activism. At the age of 17, he was shot by the police while fighting as a political activist and spent five years in prison as a political prisoner. He continued his fight against dictatorship in Iran and has been involved in numerous human rights activities.
One of his notable achievements was the creation of the film Afghan Alphabet, which led to a change in Iranian law, allowing over half a million Afghan children refugees to attend schools and universities in Iran. Makhmalbaf has also established an NGO in Iran, which has executed 82 human rights projects to help women and children of Afghanistan.
Despite his contributions to Iranian cinema and human rights, Makhmalbaf's work has been met with censorship. Since 2009, all 40 films of the Makhmalbaf family, including Mohsen's 30 published books, have been banned in Iran. The Iranian government has also levied a ban on mentioning Makhmalbaf's name in the media, and in 2013, they removed over 120 international awards won by the Makhmalbaf family from the museum of cinema in Iran.
