# Blackboards (تخته سیاه)
**Blackboards** (Persian title: تخته سیاه, *Takhte Siah*) is a 2000 fiction film directed by Samira Makhmalbaf, her second feature, in which itinerant Kurdish teachers carry blackboards on their backs through the mountains along the Iran-Iraq border in search of students. It was co-written by Makhmalbaf with her father, the filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and won the Jury Prize in the official competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/1476/) • [2](https://fest.afi.com/2000/international-competition-2000/blackboards-takhte-siah/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | Takhte Siah (تخته سیاه)[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/1476/) |
| Director and screenplay | Samira Makhmalbaf; screenplay by Samira and Mohsen Makhmalbaf[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/1476/) |
| Year and countries | 2000; Iran and Italy[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/1476/) |
| Language and length | Kurdish; 85 minutes[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/1476/) |
| Principal cast | Said Mohamadi (Said, a teacher), Bahman Ghobadi (Reeboir, a teacher), Behnaz Jafari (Halaleh, a young widow)[2](https://fest.afi.com/2000/international-competition-2000/blackboards-takhte-siah/) |
| Key crew | Cinematography Ebrahim Ghafori; music Mohammad Reza Darvishi; editing Mohsen Makhmalbaf[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/1476/) |
| Cannes result | Jury Prize, official competition, 2000[3](https://www.benettongroup.com/en/media-press/press-releases-and-statements/cannes-special-jury-prize-to-blackboards/) |
| Critical scores | Metacritic Metascore 64; Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer 74% (34 reviews)[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/blackboards/critic-reviews/) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blackboards) |
## Spoilers
### Story
The film is set after the chemical bombing of Halabcheh (Halabja) in Iraq, in a war-scarred Kurdish border region. A group of refugee teachers, each carrying a blackboard strapped to his back like a cross, walks the mountain roads looking for pupils willing to learn.[6](https://www.d8.makhmalbaf.com/en/film/blackboards) The teachers hide under their blackboards when helicopters pass overhead, then split up to search separately.[6](https://www.d8.makhmalbaf.com/en/film/blackboards) • [2](https://fest.afi.com/2000/international-competition-2000/blackboards-takhte-siah/)
The story follows two of them. Reeboir comes across a group of teenagers who smuggle contraband across the border under heavy loads; their experience of danger and exploitation leads them to resist his arguments for a traditional education.[2](https://fest.afi.com/2000/international-competition-2000/blackboards-takhte-siah/) Said attaches himself to a band of old men who, after years of exile, are making their way back to their homeland to die there; he offers to guide them in exchange for walnuts, and a sick old man is carried on his board.[6](https://www.d8.makhmalbaf.com/en/film/blackboards) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/dec/29/culture.reviews) The only woman in the film is Halaleh, a widowed young mother among the old men; Said marries her, with the blackboard serving as dowry.[8](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/dec/31/philipfrench1) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blackboards)
The blackboard itself becomes the film's central prop, used as camouflage, a stretcher, a splint for a broken leg, a shelter, a screen for a wedding, a door for privacy, and a shield against gunfire; Said's board is so emblematic that the old men call him [Blackboard](https://www.edgepedia.org/blackboard).[8](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/dec/31/philipfrench1) In one noted scene, Said writes the words "I love you" for his bride, who ignores him, and he keeps adding zeros to her grade; the scribbles remain on the board until the final shot.[9](https://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/2002/blackboards.shtml) The Makhmalbaf website's synopsis states the film's premise plainly: hunger and insecurity have left no chance for the education of the generations.[6](https://www.d8.makhmalbaf.com/en/film/blackboards)
## Production and style
Samira Makhmalbaf made the film at 19, and it premiered at Cannes in May 2000 when she was 20.[9](https://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/2002/blackboards.shtml) • [2](https://fest.afi.com/2000/international-competition-2000/blackboards-takhte-siah/) It was a family and international effort: her father co-wrote and edited, and the production companies included Fabrica and Rai Cinema in Italy alongside Makhmalbaf Film House in Iran.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/1476/)
**Non-professional cast.** Makhmalbaf used non-professional actors, fusing fiction with documentary reality by inventing the circumstances of people living them; only Halaleh's actress, Behnaz Jafari, and one of the teachers had previous acting experience.[10](https://brattlefilm.org/movies/blackboards/) • [8](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/dec/31/philipfrench1) Critics have described the result as a blend of documentary elements and poetic, symbolic imagery, an allegory that resists simple readings.[11](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/4/1128-blackboard) • [8](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/dec/31/philipfrench1) A recurring device is repetition: nearly every line of dialogue is repeated at least once, which reviewers have read both as an annoyance and as an image of teaching itself.[9](https://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/2002/blackboards.shtml)
## Reception and awards
At Cannes 2000 the film competed in the official competition and received the Jury Prize.[3](https://www.benettongroup.com/en/media-press/press-releases-and-statements/cannes-special-jury-prize-to-blackboards/) The Makhmalbaf Film House lists further 2000 awards: the Grand Jury Prize from the [American Film Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-film-institute), a Special Cultural Prize from UNESCO, the Giffoni Mayor Prize and the François Truffaut Prize at the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy, and a Federico Fellini Honor from UNESCO.[6](https://www.d8.makhmalbaf.com/en/film/blackboards)
Critical response was broadly favorable but divided. The aggregate Metascore is 64, with 10 of 13 critic reviews positive.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/blackboards/critic-reviews/) Stephen Holden of The New York Times called it "an indelible and ultimately moving vision of humanity"; Stanley Kauffmann in [The New Republic](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-republic) read it as a testament of quiet endurance and reconciled survival.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/blackboards/critic-reviews/) Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian praised its "clarity and grace" and its place in the new Iranian cinema.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/dec/29/culture.reviews) Dissenting voices existed: Jeffrey M. Anderson gave it two and a half stars out of four, finding the film's stance on education muddled, and one Video Librarian review rated it one star out of five.[9](https://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/2002/blackboards.shtml) • [12](https://videolibrarian.com/reviews/film/blackboards/) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 74% Tomatometer and a 75% audience score.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blackboards)
## Release details and discrepancies
The film circulated widely on the festival circuit, with screenings from Cannes, Toronto, and Moscow in 2000 through [Karlovy Vary](https://www.edgepedia.org/karlovy-vary) and [Rotterdam](https://www.edgepedia.org/rotterdam) in 2001 and later festivals into 2005.[6](https://www.d8.makhmalbaf.com/en/film/blackboards) Cineuropa lists theatrical releases beginning in Italy on 1 September 2000, followed by France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and Denmark through 2003.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/1476/)
Reference sources disagree on a few production details. Running times are given as 85 minutes by Cineuropa, AFI, and the Karlovy Vary program, 82 minutes by the Quebec film classification repertoire, and 83 minutes by the Makhmalbaf Film House page.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/1476/) • [2](https://fest.afi.com/2000/international-competition-2000/blackboards-takhte-siah/) • [13](https://repertoire.cinema.mcc.gouv.qc.ca/film/blackboards-155780/) • [6](https://www.d8.makhmalbaf.com/en/film/blackboards) The producing countries are listed as Iran and Italy by Cineuropa and AFI, while the Chlotrudis Society and a [Nottingham](https://www.edgepedia.org/nottingham) film journal add Japan.[1](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/1476/) • [14](https://chlotrudis.org/review/blackboards/) • [15](https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/scope/documents/2004/may-2004/film-rev-may-2004.pdf) The language is given as Kurdish by most sources, though the Brattle Theatre lists Persian (Farsi).[10](https://brattlefilm.org/movies/blackboards/)
## References
1. [Blackboards, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/1476/)
2. [Blackboards (Takhte Siah), AFI FEST 2000](https://fest.afi.com/2000/international-competition-2000/blackboards-takhte-siah/)
3. [Cannes: Special Jury Prize to Blackboards, Benetton Group](https://www.benettongroup.com/en/media-press/press-releases-and-statements/cannes-special-jury-prize-to-blackboards/)
4. [Blackboards critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/blackboards/critic-reviews/)
5. [Blackboards, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blackboards)
6. [Blackboards, Makhmalbaf Film House](https://www.d8.makhmalbaf.com/en/film/blackboards)
7. [Peter Bradshaw, review of Blackboards, The Guardian, 29 December 2000](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/dec/29/culture.reviews)
8. [Philip French, review of Blackboards, The Guardian, 31 December 2000](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/dec/31/philipfrench1)
9. [Jeffrey M. Anderson, Blackboards (2000), Combustible Celluloid](https://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/2002/blackboards.shtml)
10. [Blackboards, The Brattle Theatre](https://brattlefilm.org/movies/blackboards/)
11. [Blackboard, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/4/1128-blackboard)
12. [Blackboards, Video Librarian](https://videolibrarian.com/reviews/film/blackboards/)
13. [Blackboards (Takhte Siah), Répertoire des films classés, Quebec](https://repertoire.cinema.mcc.gouv.qc.ca/film/blackboards-155780/)
14. [Blackboards, Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film](https://chlotrudis.org/review/blackboards/)
15. [Blackboards (Takhté siah), Scope film review, University of Nottingham](https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/scope/documents/2004/may-2004/film-rev-may-2004.pdf)
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