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 the joy of madness
Behind the scenes in a post-war dustbowl. Aged just 13 when she made Joy Of Madness, Hana Makhmalbaf is the youngest of the Iranian filmmaking powerhouse that is the Makhmalbaf family. Her big sister Samira’s recent film about the struggle of women in Afghanistan, At Five In The Afternoon, is the subject of Hana’s enthralling “making of” documentary. In which the oppressive reality behind Samira’s poetic movie images of newly empowered women is made grimly clear. It’s also a brilliant portrait of a gutsy, uncompromising director. One minute, Samira is shown sowing the seeds for a new dynamism among the Afghan people, with her lectures on female empowerment in the post-war dustbowl. The next she is seen in a struggle to convince a couple to allow their dying baby to be cast in her film. Their resistance is not because of the mite’s health, but rather that they believe the filmmakers want to sacrifice their child. Better than any news report. The Joy Of Madness, on selected release 16 July 04.
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