Hana Makhmalbaf: "Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame" (1)

Nineteen-year-old Iranian director Hana Makhmalbaf (daughter of Mohsen and younger sister of Samira) presented "Buda az sharm foru rikht") in the section Generation Kplus (for children of 11 years and older) at the Berlinale 2008. Apart from winning the principal prize of that section, the film also received the 23rd Film Peace Prize, awarded by the IPPNW. It tells the story of 5-year-old Bakhtay who lives in the Afghan town of Bamiyan where in 2001 the Taliban blew up the famous Buddha statues that were carred into the rock about 1,500 years ago. Bakhtay desperately wants to go to school, but then she is confronted with the brutal war games of the boys of the neighbourhood, who take her prisoner and threaten to stone her to death...

This is how Hana Makhmalbaf responded to the questions of the audience after the screening. As you will notice, some of the questions were asked by kids...

In Farsi with English subtitles. Added pictures have been taken from the website www.makhmalbaf.com, the added music is the beginning of the song "Bade Saba", by Sussan Deyhim.