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?

Original title:

تخته سياه

Release:

September 01, 2000

Original language:

Persian

Production country:

Iran
Italy
Japan

Producer company:

Fabrica
Makhmalbaf Film House Productions
RAI

Spoken languages:

Kurdish
Persian

Samira Makhmalbaf

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