The Apple
(Sib)
by Samira Makhmalbaf
Iran
Script: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Cinematographer: Ebrahim Ghafori, Mohamad Ahmadi
Sound: Beyrouz Shahamat
Cast: Massoumeh Naderi, Zahra Naderi, Ghorban Ali Naderi
Production: Makhmalbaf Film House
Distribution:
MK2 Diffusion
55 rue Traversière
75012 Paris
France
Tel: 0033 1.44.67.30.87
Fax: 0033 1.43.44.20.18
Mail: [email protected]
www.mk2pro.com
Year: 1998
35 mm, Colour, 85 min,
OV Farsi with French Subtitles
FIPRESCI Award Locarno 1998
This story was inspired by a news item. In a very poor area of Teheran, families have gathered to inform the social services that one of their neighbours has kept his two young daughters locked away since they were born. A social worker is sent to lead an investigation.
“…at the beginning, I was not quite sure if the film would be a documentary or a feature. I used the topic as a pretext to question the importance of the street in the social integration of men and women, the street where boys are allowed to play and girls are excluded. At the same time, I wanted to find out why parents would keep their own children shut in, despite their love. I also wanted to understand how the local inhabitants could ignore so long what happened next door, and if they knew it, why they remained indifferent for so long. I still have no answer…” Samira Makhmalbaf
