Salaam Cinema

Few countries are as mad about movies as Iran, and Makhmalbaf makes this mania the subject of this charming, slyly witty work, made to mark the centenary of cinema. The director placed an advertisement for 100 actors and actresses to audition for his new film, and Salaam Cinema records the result: 5000 people turn up, and after the inevitable melee, Makhmalbaf and his crew interview a stream of applicants. All of them want, in varying degrees of desperation, to be movie stars, and Makhmalbaf - both behind and in front of the camera - takes great pleasure in revealing their tenacity, vanity and illusions. Sometimes gentle, sometimes burdening or harsh, Salaam Cinema shuttles between fiction and documentary, encouraging examination of the director's role in filmmaking and, ultimately, the significance of cinema in everyday life.

Mohsen Makhmalbaf was born in Tehran in 1957. He quit school at 15 to support his family, and at 17 was imprisoned for several years by the Pahlavi regime. Since 1981, he has made several films including the internationally acclaimed The Peddler (1986); The Cyclist (1988); Marriage of the Blessed (1989); Salaam Cinema (1995); Gabbeh (1996) and A Moment of Innocence (1996).