The Apple

Director: Samira Makhmalbaf

1998 / 86min / DCP

At only 17 years of age Makhmalbaf, the daughter of legendary Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, produced this, her debut feature, a docufiction work of extraordinary sensitivity and maturity concerning a social worker’s investigation into the case of two 13-year-old twins whose father has been confining his daughters to their home since they were age two. Based on a true story out of Tehran and featuring the actual family, the Naderis, who lived it, playing themselves, Makhmalbaf’s extraordinary study of stunted growth, thwarted potential, everyday cruelty, and the possibility of hope in spite of all these things caused a sensation when it premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes.