Makhmalbaf Family Official Website - وبسایت رسمی خانه فیلم مخملباف

The Peddler

Synopsis:

Episode one: The Happy child
The fourth child of a poor couple, whom live in Halabiabad (a dispossessed place in Tehran), is born. In the maternity they tell them that if the child does not have good nutrition he would become paralyzed as well. The couple, who have 3 retarded and handicapped children- as a result of family marriage-know that because of poverty they cannot take care of their newborn child and they are worried that he would encounter the same fate as the other three children. They decide to make their child prosperous and they take him to a sanitarium for handicapped and retarded children but very soon the bitter future of the child comes into the mother’s mind. Then they decide to put the child in the way so that a good person takes the child with him and makes him prosperous but no one would take the child, but poor people and for making money. Eventually they leave the child by the swimming pool of an aristocratic house and leave, unaware of the fact that the child ends up in the sanitarium of handicapped and retarded children once again.

 

Episode two: Birth of an old woman :
A young boy, who has psychic signs in his behavior and words, nurses his old and handicapped mother, who does not even have the ability to talk, with patience and comprehension in an humble house. One day when he leaves the house towards the bank to get his monthly pension, he has an accident with a vehicle and the passersby steal his money. The young boy, who is worried about his mother’s conditions escapes from the hospital with a bandaged head, while the old woman has died in his absence. But in the house he still treats her mother as if she is alive. 

 

Episode three: The peddler :
A group of smugglers who have unlawful activities under the cover of selling second hand clothes, take a peddler, who was their accomplice and witness of their crime, with themselves by force to kill him. The young peddler, who has arguments with the leader of the group over his life all the time, is thinking of escaping from this predicament, but all these escapes are only in his mind…

 

Titles: 

Original Title: Dastforoush
Screenwriter, Editor & Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
 
Music: Majid Entezami
Dubbing Manager: Manouchehr Esmaeeli
 
First Episode: Happy Child (Bacheye Khoshbakht) “Inspired by Alberto Moravia’s story”
Director of Photography: Homayoun Payvar
Make-Up: Fatemeh Ardakani
 
Cast:
Zohreh Sarmadi
Esmaeel Soltaniyan
Mohammad Talaie
Somayyeh Ebrahimi
Maryam Shirazi
Esmat Makhmalbaf
Ali Tavakkoli
Kamran Nowrouz
Azam Bahrami
Ali Shirazi
 
Second Episode : Birth of An Old woman (Tavallode Yek Pirzan) 
Director of photography: Mehrdad Fakhimi
Make-Up: Abdollah Eskandari
Set Designer: Hassan Farsi
Cast:
Morteza Zarrabi
Mahmoud Basiri
Moharram Zeinalzadeh
Davoud Ghanbari
Naser Forough
Mohsen Derakhshani
Mohmmad-Reza Bagheri
Rasoul Ahadi
 
Third Episode : The Peddler (Dastforoush)
Director of Photography: Ali-Reza Zarrindast
Make-Up: Abdolhamid Ghadirian
Set Designer: Hossein Khosrojerdi 
Cast:
Behzad Behzadpour
Jafar Dehghan
Farid Kashan-Fallah
Mohammad-Ali Mozhdehi
Davoud Rahmati
Hossein Gorouhi
Kamal Abbasi
Ahmad Khayyatbashi
Mohammad Alaghband
Habib Haddad
International Sales: Makhmalbaf Film House (UK)
1987, color, 90 mins.
 
 

Festivals: 
  1. The 5th Fajr International Film Festival, Iran 1987. Awarded the “ Best Poster”.
  2. The 32nd London Film Festival, UK 1988.
  3. Hong Kong International Film Festival, Hong Kong 1989.
  4. New Films/ New Directors International Film Festival, USA 1989.
  5. The 12th Portland International Film Festival, USA 1989.
  6. The 11th Goteborg International Film Festival, Sweden 1989.
  7. The 7th Rivertown International Film Festival, USA 1989.
  8. Seattle International Film Festival, USA 1989.
  9. Taipei International Film Exhibition, Taiwan 1989.
  10. The 13th Sao Paulo International Film Festival, Brazil 1989.
     
  11. The 8th Vancouver International Film Festival, Canada 1989.
  12. The 14th Toronto International Film Festival, Canada 1989.
  13. Festival du Film Iranian at Cinéma Utopia, France 1989.
  14. “A Decade of Iranian Cinema 1980-90” at UCLA, USA 1990.
  15. Pesaro International Film Festival, Spain 1990.
  16. Festival des Trois Continents, Nantes 1990.
  17. Festival of Iranian Films in Tadzhikistan, USSR 1990.
  18. Festival of Iranian Films in Australian Film Institute, Australia 1991.
  19. The 10th Istanbul International Film Festival, Turkey 1991.
  20. Festival of Iranian Films in Bonner cinematheque, Germany 1991.
     
  21. Festival of Iranian Films in Vienna, Austria 1991.
  22. Festival of Iranian Films at London’s National Film Theatre, UK 1992.
  23. The 17th Toronto International Film Festival of festivals, Canada 1992.
  24. Iranian Film Festival at Cinema Utopia, “Close-Up of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”, Paris-France 1992. 
  25. Festival of Iranian Films in Kiev, Ukraine 1993.
  26. The 21st La Rochelle International Film Festival, France 1993. “A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
  27. The 8th Singapore International Film Festival, Singapore 1995. “A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
  28. The 19th Sao Paulo International Film Festival, Brazil 1995. “A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf” . Awarded “The Critics’ Prize” for all films
  29. The 36th Thesaloniki International Film Festival, Greece 1995. “A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
  30. The Festival of Iranian Films in Tokyo, Japan 1996.
     
  31. The 14th Turin International Festival of young Cinema, Italy 1996.
    “A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
  32. The 28th International Film Festival of India, Trivandrum, India 1997. “A retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf “
  33. The Festival of Iranian Films at The UCLA Film Archive, USA 1997.
    “A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
  34. Film From the south’97, Copenhagen, Denmark 1997. 
  35. The Festival of Iranian Films at Cinematheque Canada, Ottawa 1997.
  36. The Festival of Iranian Films at The Northwest Film Center, Portland, 1997.
  37. Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, USA 1997.
  38. The Festival of Iranian Films at Cleveland Cinematheque, Canada 1997.“
    A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
  39. The Festival of Iranian Films at The Cinematheque Ontario, Toronto, Canada 1997.
  40. The Festival of Iranian Films at The Film Center of Chicago, USA 1997.
     
  41. The Festival of Iranian Films at The Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, USA 1997.“A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
  42. The Festival of Iranian Films at Montreal Conservatoire, Canada 1997.
  43. Golden Horse Film Festival, Hong Kong 1997.
  44. Museum of Fine Arts of Boston, USA 1997.
  45. Museum of Modern Art of New York, USA 1997.
  46. The Festival of Iranian Films at The Pacific Cinematheque, Vancouver, Canada 1997.
  47. Retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf in Sweden 1998.
  48. Film From the south’98-Oslo, Norway 1998.“A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
  49. The 4th Calcutta International Film Festival, India 1998.“A Tribute to Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
  50. The Festival of Iranian Films at The Royal Film Archive, Brussels, Belgium 1999.
     
  51. “Life and Art: New Iranian Cinema “, NFT, BFI, London, UK 1999.
  52. The Festival of Iranian films in Russia. 2000.
  53. The Festival of Iranian films in Philippine. 2000.
  54. The Festival of Iranian films in Malaysia. 2000.
  55. The Festival of Iranian films in Bangladesh 2000.
    “Retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
  56. The Festival of Iranian films in Leipzig 2000.
    “Retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
  57. The Festival of Iranian films in Istanbul 2000.
  58. The Festival of Iranian films in India 2000.
    “Retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
  59. The Festival of Iranian films in Sri Lanka 2001.
  60. The Festival of Iranian films in New Delhi 2001.
    “Retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
     
  61. The Festival of Iranian films in St Petersburg 2001.
    “Retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
  62. Calcutta Film Festival, India 2001.
  63. Moscow Film Festival, Russia 2001.
    “Retrospective of Makhmalbaf Film House” 
  64. A retrospective of "Mohsen Makhmalbaf”in Madras,Banglore,Viji Vada,Haydarabad , India 2001
  65. Dhaka International Film Festival, Bangladesh 2002. 
    “A retrospective of Mohsen Makhmalbaf”
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