pakshir.qxd
Point one: Mr. Makhmalbaf does not have children from both marriages. All three of his children are from his first marriage. After the death of his wife, his sister-in-law cared for his children. Islamic law does not allow single men and women to cohabit–that is a basis for marriage–hence a second marriage. Let’s not even mention the comment about children and the number of shoes!
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N. Newcastle
I especially regret what I perceive as elements of fear and mistrust expressed in both these letters, which imply that misgivings about certain major filmmakers can’t be tolerated. Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa might have done us all a favor by indicating what “great parts of Makhmalbaf’s works” I failed to appreciate, as well as her estimation of which of his later and stronger works I should have emphasized. And, for the record, some Iranians have described Makhmalbaf to me as a “crazy” and/or neurotic filmmaker–adjectives used with obvious affection and irony, to be sure, but still used. Maybe the fact that these words were spoken to me privately, not publicly, is what’s really at issue.
