Director’s view:

Film critics hail desica’s “Bicycle’s Thieves with hurrahs since he puts the blame on the social conditions and does not condemn “Fido”, the bicycle thief, ethically. However, the same people judge “Desica”, the filmmaker, with extreme ethicalism and blame him for directing commercial films in his late years. In fact, their system of criticism is entangled with duality; since, they fail to see “Desica” himself is another “Fido”.
In this film I have looked at an actor’s situation from Desica’s point of view in “Bicycle’s Thieves”.

BIOGRAPHY:  

Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Born into a poor family in Tehran on May 29, 1957. He began to support his single mother since he was 8 and by the time he turned 17, he had worked as bellboy, plain worker and anything else he could find in the 13 jobs he went through.
A lower-class youngster in the poor southern districts of Tehran, Mohsen formed an under-ground Islamic militia group since he was 15 and by the time he was 17, he was shot and arrested while attempting to disarm a policeman. Expecting to remain in prison for much longer, he was released from prison shortly after the revolution in 1979. The 4½-year incarceration helped him to educate himself in various fields and gain focus on his outlooks on life and the Iranian society. This intellectual renaissance led him to distance himself from politics and find better satisfaction in Literature and the arts, especially Cinema. At this stage in his life, he strongly believed that the Iranian society suffers more from Cultural poverty than anything else.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf became a writer and filmmaker of the post-revolutionary Iran. His literary activities included research into the arts, novels, short stories and screenplays that were published in more than 20 books in Farsi, English, French, Italian, Arabic, Urdu, Kurdish and Turkish. He wrote, directed, edited and mainly produced 20 feature and short length films as well as writing screenplays and editing films for various other Iranian filmmakers. His films attended international film festivals throughout the world more than 1000 times and earned several awards from them. Mohsen Makhmalbaf has also been the subject of many films and books that were made about him and his life.
Since 1996, he temporarily abandoned his filmmaking career to teach. He formed the Makhmalbaf Film House in which he taught film to a select group of pupils including his own three children. He is currently conducting research for his upcoming film after 4 years of cinematic silence.

FESTIVALS:

1. The 11th Fajr International Film Festival (Iran, 1993)
   Awarded the “Crystal Simorgh” for the best “Sound” and the best “Set Design”
2. The 21st La Rochelle International Film Festival (France, 1993)
3. The 24th Taormina International Film Festival (Italy, 1993)
4. The 23rd International Film Festival of Rotterdam (Netherland, 1994)
5. The 18th Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hong Kong, 1994)
6. The Festival of Iranian Films in Armenia (USA, 1994)
7. The Festival of Iranian Film at The film Center of Chicago (USA, 1994)
8. The Festival of Iranian Films in Museum of Fine Arts of Boston (USA, 1994)
9. The Festival of Iranian Films in Museum of Fine Arts of Houston (USA, 1994)
10. The 22 Royal Film Archive of Belgium Festival (Belgium, 1994)
11. The Festival of Iranian Films at Cleveland Cinematheque (Canada, 1995)
    “A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
12. The Festival of Iranian Films in the American Film institute (Washington DC, USA, 1995)
13. The Festival of Iranian Films in the Wexner Art Center (Columbus, USA, 1995)
14. The Festival of Iranian Films in the Washington University (Seattle, USA, 1995)
15. The 8th Singapore International Film Festival (Singapore, 1995)
16. The Festival of Iranian Films in France (France, 1995)
17. Festival of Films from Middle east and North Africa In New York (USA, 1995)
18. The 19th Sao Paulo International Film Festival (Brazil, 1995)
    Awarded “The Crities’s Prize” for all films
19. The 27th New Delhi International Film Festival (India, 1996)
20. Festival of Iranian Films at Film Society of Lincoln Center (New York, USA, 1996)
21. The Festival of Iranian Films in UCLA (USA, 1996)
22. The 14th Turin International Festival of young Cinema (Italy, 1996)
23. The Festival of Iranian Films at The Cinematheque Ontario (Toronto, Canada, 1997)
24. The Festival of Iranian Films at Montreal Conservatoire (Canada, 1997)

25. The Festival of Iranian Films at The Pacific Cinematheque (Vancouver, Canada, 1997)

26. The Festival of Iranian Film at The Cinematheque of Ottawa (Canada, 1997)
27. The Festival of Iranian Films at The Northwest Film Center (Portland, 1997)
28. The Festival of Iranian Films at The Film Center of Chicago (USA, 1997)
29. The Festival of Iranian Film at The Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley, USA, 1997)
30. Museum of Fine Arts of Boston (USA, 1997)
31. Museum of Modern Art of New York (USA, 1997)
32. Museum of Fine Arts of Houston (USA, 1997)
33. The Festival of Iranian Films at The UCLA Film Archive (USA, 1997)
    “A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
34. The Festival of Iranian Films at Cleveland Cinematheque (Canada, 1997)
    “A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
35. Festival of Film From The South (Copenhagen, Denmark, 1997)
36. A retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Sweden, 1998)
37. The 14th Calcutta International Film Festival (India, 1998)
38. The Festival of Iranian Films at The Royal Film Archive (Brussels, Belgium, 1999)
39. The Festival of Iranian Films in Vienna (Austria, 1999)
40. The Festival of Iranian Films at Slovenian Film Museum (Slovenia, 1999)
41. The Festival of Iranian films in Lebanon (Lebanon, 2000)
42. The Festival of Iranian films in Leipzig (Leipzig, 2000)
    “A retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
43. The Festival of Iranian films in Bangladesh (Bangladesh, 2000)
    “A retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
44. The Festival of Iranian films in India (India, 2000)
    “A retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
45. The Festival of Iranian films in New Delhi (India, 2001)
    “A retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
46. The Festival of Iranian films in St Petersburg (2001)
    “A retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
47. Calcutta Film Festival (India, 2001)
48. Moscow Film Festival (Russia, 2001)
    “Retrospective of Makhmalbaf Film House”
49. A retrospective of "Mohsen Makhmalbaf”in Madras, Banglore, Viji Vada, Haydarabad (India, 2001)
50. Dhaka International Film Festival (Bangladesh, 2002)
    “A retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”

print friendly