About Makhmalbaf
Director Samira Makhmalbaf and her father Mohsen gave a Press Conference in Cannes late Friday afternoon to discuss the future of their next film, 'Two -Legged Horse.' Production for the film, Samira's first in five years, was stopped suddenly after March 28 of this year when a deliberate bomb attack occurred on set in Afghanistan.
Fifteen percent of the footage is done, but it is unknown when the shooting will recommence, one reason being that people who were involved in production are now hesitant to contribute after this attack -that injured six people and killed one horse. If it weren't for the horse many others would have died, perhaps a presence of twist of fate. 'I wished for the horse to die sooner rather than later and it did, it died right away,' Samira said.
The attack, a bomb thrown from the rooftop of a nearby building by someone who made it into the production area as an extra, was believed to be a deliberate attack on the Makhmalbaf family. Although cameras were rolling at the time the bomb was thrown, the criminal is still unknown.
One reason the shooting was taking place in Afghanistan and not in Iran, the Makhmalbafs' home country, is that Iran refused to let the Makhmalbaf Family shoot there. 'I try to make a film there, and they said OK your script is beautiful but we have problems with your family,' Samira said, softspoken though impassioned.
Although Samira wants to make films in Iran, her father disagrees. 'My father says I belong to cinema now, but I still feel like I belong to my homeland,' she explained. ' I don't know, maybe he is my future and maybe I am his past.'
For safety, the Makhmalbafs would rather not say where or when the shooting will eventually recommence, although, the shooting must go on soon. 'We have to do it fast because there are small children acting who will grow and change,' said Mohsen, occasionally pausing to check with his daughter for the right english words as he spoke.
While watching the father daughter team speak, one thing was clear: the film will be impressive. Samira, whose father sent her the script, had a very strong attraction to it.
'I tried to finish it and had to stop reading because it was so hard and then I thought, maybe it's so real in my mind that I can't face it,' Samira said, dark eyes vivid and words clear. 'I felt a lot of faith, a lot of love about this script, and then I thought; maybe I came to cinema to make this movie.' Samira also spoke about her interpretation of the script.
'The soul of this movie was so strange, I was so prepared for it. I asked the soul of the movie 'do you want to be born or not?' Really it was like this,' she assured the 20 or so journalists in the audience. 'And if I decided I didn't want it to be born, it wanted to.'
Iranian woman director, Samira Makhmalbaf stated that she would go on shooting her latest film "The Two Legged Horse" despite the March 27 bombing that brought her film to a halt.
Written by Mohsen Makhmalbaf and directed by his daughter, Samira Makhmalbaf, the movie is a joint production by Makhmalbaf Film House and Wild Bunch Company.
A bomb exploded March 27 on the set of the film in the Baluch Khaneh district of Sarpol City in Afghanistan which resulted in severe injuries of six cast members and others.
Speaking at a press conference at the 60th edition of the Cannes international film festival, she discharged the possibility of not returning to Afghanistan to continue shooting her film.
She said there was a possibility that she may carry out the rest of the job in a neighboring country like Tajikistan.
During the conference, about 7 minutes of the incomplete film was represented to the audience, including the bombing scene that ended in wounding 6 actors and other related cast members as well as the horse.
"If the poor horse had not become the main target of the explosion then we would definitely have more human casualties," said Makhmalbaf.
Samira further added that she did not who was truly responsible for the incident.
"Who are the ones who do not want us to make this film? Who were the ones who stopped my father's film from representation in Rome film festival? Who are we challenging? We are what we think and cinema can't change what we think. I will not stop making this film," she asserted.
"I don't know when and where, but you can be sure that I will finish shooting this film. What has happened doesn't mean that I won't return to Afghanistan, even if a greater danger awaits me," she concluded.
"I hope they go to Tajikistan because I think Afghanistan is very risky. But I know that Samira and Mohsen are not afraid of taking risks. This isn't something we're discussing. It's something she will decide," said Vincent Maraval of Gallic film company Wild Bunch, which is co-producing with the Makhmalbaf Film House.
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