CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Blackboards

2000 film by Samira Makhmalbaf

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ2399461
Source-derived summary

Blackboards (Persian: تخته سیاه, Takhté siah; Kurdish: تەختێ رەش, romanized: Textê Reş) is a 2000 Iranian film directed by Samira Makhmalbaf. It focuses on a group of Kurdish refugees after the chemical bombing of Halabja by Saddam Hussein's Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War. The screenplay was co-written by Makhmalbaf with her father, Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The dialogue is entirely in Kurdish. Makhmalbaf describes it as "something between reality and fiction. Smuggling, being homeless, and people's efforts to survive are all part of reality... the film, as a whole, is a metaphor."

The film was an international co-production of the Makhmalbaf Productions of Iran, the Italian companies Fabrica and Rai Cinema, and the Japanese company T-Mark.

Plot

Following a bombing in Iranian Kurdistan, schoolteachers wander from village to village in search of students.

One of them comes across a group of teenagers working as "mules," smuggling goods across the border into Iraq. Despite the teachers' efforts, none of them is interested in learning—except for the young Rêbwar.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Blackboards” as 2000 film by Samira Makhmalbaf. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Blackboards, film and Samira.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2000—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—2000-01-01, 2002-01-17—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Blackboards, film and Samira providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Blackboards”, the useful work is to connect “2000 film by Samira Makhmalbaf” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2399461. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2000.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Blackboards”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Blackboards primary sources, Blackboards archive and Blackboards research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Blackboards”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Blackboards” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.