After the success of her award-winning debut, The Apple, Samira Makhmalbaf’s second film has brought the young director even greater acclaim.

In the brutal mountains of the Iran/Iraq border, two nomadic teachers, Reeboir and Said, roam the landscape in search of pupils. They carry their blackboards on their backs, sometimes using them as shelter, camouflage, and as shields from gunfire. Reeboir encounters a group of young border smugglers for whom education has little meaning, whilst Said becomes involved with some old men seeking a safe route across the border to Iraq.

Makhmalbaf, the youngest filmmaker to have won the Prix du Jury at Cannes, elicits strong performances from a largely non-professional cast and creates a visually powerful and insightful depiction of a people on the edge of a country and a society.