Samira Makhmalbaf given name Samira
Personal life
Mohsen Makhmalbaf married Fatemeh Meshkini, who gave birth to their three children – Samira (or Zeynab, born in 1980), Meysam (or Ayyoub, born in 1981), and Hana (or Khatereh, born in 1988).Mohsen Makhmalbaf says in an interview, "When I left the political organizations and moved into radio, Fatemeh came with me. I wrote programming, and she became an announcer. When Samira was born, we'd take her to the radio station. We worked, and she was always with one of us." Fatemeh Meshkini died in an accident in 1982. Mohsen Makhmalbaf subsequently married Fatemeh Meshkini's sister, Marziyeh Meshkini.Samira Makhmalbaf has been a great activist for women's rights almost all her life. In an interview with The Guardian, she says, "We have a lot of limitations from all the written and unwritten law. But, still, I hope, and I believe that it will get better. It started with the democratic movement. But some things don't happen consciously. I wanted to make films, I made films to say something else, but in a way, I became a kind of example. It was breaking some cliche. Another new way of thinking started. Yes, we have a lot of limitations, but these limitations made a lot of strong, different kinds of women in Iran who, if they find a chance to express themselves, have plenty of things to say. They may have found a deeper way through all these limitations." In the same interview, she talks about politics and says, "Even if I made that kind of direct movie talking about politics, it's nothing. Nothing, because it's just talking like a journalist. You are saying something superficial. The movies I make are deeper. This kind of work can live longer and deeper than that kind of journalistic work."At Five in the Afternoon is the first feature film in a post-Taliban environment. She talks about her film to the BBC, "I wanted to show reality, not the cliches on television saying that the US went to Afghanistan and rescued the people from the Taliban, that the US did a Rambo," said Makhmalbaf. "Though the Taliban have gone, their ideas are anchored in peoples' minds, in their traditions and culture, there is still a big difference between men and women in Afghanistan."In an interview with the BBC, she discusses the difficulties women directors face in Iran. "Traditionally, it is in the minds of everybody that a woman cannot be a filmmaker. It is, therefore, very much harder for a woman. Also, when you live in this kind of situation, there is a danger that you can start to develop a similar mindset. So the thing is to challenge this situation, and then slowly, the situation will also change in the minds of others. I very much hope that in the advent of freedom and democracy, Iran can produce many more women directors."
first name forename given title personal name