Mohsen Makhmalbaf

“In Afghanistan, you don't understand yourself solely as an individual. You understand yourself as a feather in a bird's wing.”

“Art is not a mirror to reflect reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”

“Rather than crying and moaning, I think it is important to laugh at ourselves.”

“My goal in cinema is to be a mirror for the society.”

“I was in prison for five years. I was tortured. I was 17 years old.”

“The new wave of Iranian cinema is a cinema of poets.”

“If we want to understand our own society, we have to look at it through the eyes of the other.”

“I came from a family of believers. I was a religious boy.”

“My films are a dialogue between me and the audience.”

“When you are a political person, you are a hero. When you are a filmmaker, you are an artist.”

“I believe that a film is not complete until it is seen by the audience.”

“The story of one person is the story of all of humanity.”

“Through cinema, we can travel to other worlds and experience other lives.”

“Freedom of expression is not a gift. It is a right that must be fought for.”