Blackboards (2000)

Itinerant Kurdish teachers, carrying blackboards on their backs, look for students in the hills and villages of Iran, near the Iraqi border during the Iran-Iraq war. Said falls in with a group of old men looking for their bombed-out village; he offers to guide them, and takes as his wife Halaleh, the clan's lone woman, a widow with a young son. Reeboir attaches himself to a dozen pre-teen boys weighed down by contraband they carry across the border; they're mules, always on the move. Said and Reeboir try to teach as their potential students keep walking. Danger is close; armed soldiers patrol the skies, the roads, and the border. Is there a role for a teacher? Is there hope?

Released Sept. 1, 2000 85 min 11+

Genres: Drama, History, War

Keywords: tmdb.society, tmdb.poverty, tmdb.woman-director, tmdb.teacher, imdb.blackboard, tmdb.kurd, tmdb.iran-iraq-war + 54 more, mdblist.has-trailer, imdb.contraband, imdb.f-rated, imdb.title-directed-by-female, imdb.walnut, imdb.stream, imdb.multiplication, imdb.kidney-stone, imdb.gunfire, imdb.goat, imdb.dowry, imdb.chalk, imdb.chalkboard, imdb.kurdish-music, imdb.chemical-attack, imdb.nomad, tmdb.blackboard, imdb.border, imdb.village, imdb.teacher, imdb.widow, imdb.iran, imdb.mountain, imdb.husband-wife-relationship, imdb.wandering, imdb.smuggling, imdb.shepherd, imdb.rural-setting, imdb.river, imdb.rifle, imdb.old-man, imdb.mother-son-relationship, imdb.marriage, imdb.lost, imdb.kurd, imdb.helicopter, imdb.fog, imdb.fear, imdb.divorce, imdb.chemical-weapons, imdb.border-crossing, imdb.bird, imdb.attack, imdb.war-zone, imdb.political-repression, imdb.nationalism, imdb.genocide, imdb.dead-child, imdb.kurdistan, imdb.teaching, mdblist.fresh, imdb.reference-to-saddam-hussein, aspectratio.1-85-1, awards.festival-cannes-winner