Mohsen Makhmalbaf Focus: A Moment of Innocence

"Throughout this beautiful film Makhmalbaf opens many doors to Iranian culture, society, and importantly to his own idealism and poetic views. Some doors, he leaves ajar, and it is for us, his audience, to open them and look beyond." Saeed Zeydabadi-Nejad

"..a fascinating humanist experiment and investigation in its own right, full of warmth and humor as well as mystery.." Jonathan Rosenbaum

 In 1974, when he was 17, Mohsen Makhmalbaf stabbed a young policeman during a raid. Avoiding a death sentence only because he was under 18, he was instead jailed for four years and released during the Iranian Revolution.

Two decades later, while working as a filmmaker and casting for Salaam Cinema, Makhmalbaf encountered the same policeman – now unemployed and looking for a role.

Perhaps inspired by his role in Close Up, Makhmalbaf resolved to make a film about the disarmament that happened 20 years ago, but from a present perspective. The director (who plays himself) and the policeman (Mirhadi Taiebi) cast and coach their young selves in the build-up to the crucial incident and the film becomes a striking combination of personal history, documentary and fiction in which the mysteries of love and time are examined in a complex yet touching way.

A Moment of Innocence, dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iran/France 1996, 78 mins

Screened from 35mm print.