Production Date : 1996
Director : Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Producer : khalil mahmoodi
Synopsis:
Gabbeh is a brilliantly colorful, profoundly romantic ode to beauty, nature, love and art. Mohsen Makhmalbaf originally traveled to the remote steppes of southeastern Iran to document the lives of an almost extinct tribe of nomads. For centuries, these wandering families created special carpets – Gabbeh – that served both as artistic expression and autobiographical record of the lives of the weavers. Spellbound by the exotic countryside, and by the tales behind the Gabbehs, Makhmalbaf’s intended documentary evolved into a fictional love story which uses a gabbeh as a magic story – telling device weaving past and present’ fantasy and reality.
On the banks of a stream, an old woman and her husband are washing their Gabbeh. From this carpet comes forth a beautiful young woman – aptly named Gabbeh – who shares her epic tale: she is desperately in love with a mysterious horseman who follows her clan from after. Though her father has agreed to let her marry the man, season after season, the horseman follows Gabbeh—always present, always waiting, howling songs of love after nightfall.
Delicately interlaced with this simple and touching love story are the people whose lives are shaped by the rhythms of nature, and who instinctively express the joys and sorrows of life through song, poetry, and the tales they tell in their brilliantly-hued weavings.
Titles:
Original Title: Gabbeh
Screenwriter, Editor, Set Designer, Sound Designer & Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Cast:
Abbas Sayyahi
Shaghayegh Jowdat
Hossein Moharrami
Roghayyeh Moharrami
Parvaneh Ghalandari
Director of Photography: Mahmoud Kalari
Executive Manager and Still Photographer: Mohammad Ahmadi
Music: Hossein Alizadeh
Sound: Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
1996, Color, 72 mins.
Festivals:
Cannes International Film Festival, France 1996.
Festival of Iranian films in Royal film Archive , Belgium 1996 .
Melbourne International Film Festival , Australia 1996 .
Montreal International Film Festival, Canada 1996.
Toronto International Film Festival, Canada 1995.
Vancouver International Film Festival, Canada 1995.
New York Film Festival ,USA 1996.
Tellurid International Film Festival, USA 1996.
International Film Festival of Vienalle, Austria 1996.
Tokyo International Film Festival, Japan 1996.
Vancouver International Film Festival, Canada 1996.
Sao Paulo International Film Festival, Brazil 1996.
Mar del Plata International Film Festival, Argentina 1996.
Sitges International Film Festival, Spain 1996.
The 14th Turin International Festival of young Cinema , Italy 1996.
London International Film Festival, UK 1996.
Lisbon International Film Festival, Portugal 1996.
New Delhi International Film Festival, India 1997.
Goteborg International Film Festival, Sweden 1997.
The 10th Singapore International Film Festival, Singapore 1997.
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Czech 1997.
Sochi international Film Festival, Russia 1997.
Hamburg International Film Festival, Germany 1997.
Film From the South’97 Film Festival , Norway 1997.
Phnom Penh Film Festival , Combodia 1997.
The Festival of Iranian Films at The Cinematheque Ontario, Toronto, Canada 1997.
The Festival of Iranian Films at Montreal Conservatoire ,Canada 1997.
The Festival of Iranian Films at The Pacific Cinematheque, Vancouver, Canada 1997.
The Festival of Iranian Films at The Northwest Film Center , Portland, 1997.
The Festival of Iranian Films at The Film Center of Chicago, USA 1997.
The Festival of Iranian Film at The Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, USA 1997.
Museum of Fine Arts of Boston ,USA 1997.
Museum of Modern Art of New York, USA 1997.
Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, USA 1997.
The Festival of Iranian Films at The UCLA Film Archive, USA 1997. “A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
The Festival of Iranian Films at Cleveland Cinematheque, Canada 1997.“A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
Festival of Iranian films at Stockholm, Sweden 1997.
Philipines Film Festival , Philipin 1997
Copenhague Film Festival, Denmark 1997
Hambourg Film Festival, Germany 1997
Oslo Film Festival , Norway 1997
The Festival of Iranian films at Cinematheque Bonn , Germany 1997
Taipei Film Festival , Taiwan 1997
Dhaka Film Festival , Bangladesh 1998
Polfilm Stockholm , Sweden 1998
Buenos Aires Film Festival , Argentina 1998
Gotebourg Film Festival , Sweden 1998
Vienne Film Festival, Austria 1998
Beirut Film Festival , Lebanon 1998
Ljubljana Film Festival, Latvia 1999
Festival of Iranian film Festival at Rabat, Maraco 2000.
The Festival of Iranian Films in Hungary, 2000
The Festival of Iranian Films in Leipzig, 2000.
“ A retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
International Awards:
Best Artistic Film – Tokyo Festival (Japan) 1996.
One of 10 selected films by critics – Times (USA) 1996.
Best Director – Sitguess Festival (Spain) 1996.
Special Critics Award - Sitguess Festival (Spain) 1996.
Best Asian Feature Film – Singapore Festival (Singapore) 1997.