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Born in a poor section of Teheran in 1951, Mohsen Makhmalbâf left school at the age of fifteen to form a group of activists opposing the regime led by Shah Rheza Pahlevi. Two years later he was imprisoned, spared from execution only because he was under age. He was released from prison during the Revolution and went on to write twenty-eight short stories, three novels, ten plays, two books of essays, and twenty-eight film scripts (several of which were banned in Iran) before his debut as a director in 1982 at the age of 31. Makhmalbâf, known internationally for his films Gabbeh, The Peddler, The Cyclist, and Once Upon a Time, Cinema, has directed 15 films altogether. His most recent, Kandahar, about the plight of women in Afghanistan, was winner of the Prix de la critique ecuménique at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. In addition, he has written screenplays for The Apple and Blackboards (winner of the jury prize at Cannes 2000), both directed by his daughter Samia. Enormously successful in Iran, The Crystal Garden has gone through numerous reprints there.
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