Safar e Ghandehar

‘Reality in Afghanistan is itself surreal,’ says the director. Presented in a story about an exile-Afghani woman who tries to rescue her sister, the film shows a country torn apart by war and by the brutal Taliban regime. But even so, enticing surrealistic images appear amidst of all this horror – as when a sea of women clad in colourful burkas appear, making their way through the desert, or when artificial legs start to fall slowly from heaven.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, born in Teheran in 1957, lives in France. Along with Abbas Kiarostami, he is the best-known Iranian film-maker.

Safar e Ghandehar

Feature film, Iran 2001, 85 min, German subtitles