Exiled Iranian director reunites with mom at Kochi film festival
receive her. “That was the most cherished moment in my life. All of us wept when we met at the Kochi airport,” Makhmalbaf said recalling the reunion. Esmat said she was excited to see her son and grandchildren.
Makhmalbaf has made about two dozen films and his 2001 film Kandahar was selected by Time magazine as one of the top 100 films of all time.
On the run since 2005, Makhmalbaf and his family first sneaked into Afghanistan and were making a film there when a bomb blast on a location killed a crew member and wounded several others, forcing him to leave. They went to Tajikistan next, where they continued with their film-making and even organised a film festival. Paris was the next stop and two years back, they reached London.
“We were like refugees. Even as we faced threats to our lives, the family has together made 10 films during these eight years,” said Makhmalbaf. Barring Makhmalbaf, the rest of his family is living in Britain on an asylum visa. “We do not have British passports. Our situation is not secure and we are traveling a lot from one place to another,” he said.
After the festival ends on Sunday, Makhmalbaf and his family will return to London and his mother to Iran. But he says he will remind his mother not to lose hope about the future. Makhmalbaf and his family cannot return to Iran as they fear for their lives there. Esmat, a retired nurse who has also acted
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