By Maxwell Williams
New York

NEW YORK Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf is a legend of international filmmaking, having created 18 challenging, unflinching arthouse films that explore humanity in locations of conflict through his trademark multiple points of view. Now, though, he is taking a break. Nowadays, I have no time, says Makhmalbaf, sipping on a cup of steaming warm milk in a quiet midtown Manhattan coffee shop. I am involved in politics.

The filmmaker-turned-statesman is currently the official international spokesperson for the Iranian opposition party, better known as The Green Movement, for which he uses his celebrity to bring light to Irans current situation. He has taken to the role as if he were a seasoned ambassador. He speaks sharply about the Ahmadinejad/Khomeini governments alleged ballot-stuffing and propaganda, while criticizing Obama for what he calls the three mistakes: telling Iran he wasnt going to meddle in their domestic policies (essentially giving the government reign to fix the elections), accepting Ahmadinejad as the legitimate President, and agreeing to talks with Iran. He stumps for the Green Movements leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi. He plays fast and loose with his evocations, at one point comparing Ahmadinejad to Hitler, Mousavi to Mandela.

Playing the role of both ambassador and filmmaker, Makhmalbaf, 52, is in New York for the opening of an art exhibition at the Ana Tvarez Gallery, which will complement the prestigious Freedom to Create Prize, an award he won in November 2009. Makhmalbaf will screen his 2001 film Kandahar, a Homeric journey by an Afghan-Canadian woman trying to clandestinely reach her sister in the Afghan city, though she is forbidden to enter the country. She risks life and limb to travel though the desert, happening upon a series of guides, from doctors to young hustlers, to navigate her through the harsh, bandit-heavy drylands. Filmed before 9/11, Kandahar was originally released to unappreciative audiences who felt the film was too bleak. They said, Okay, its beautiful, but nobody wants to participate with this pain, recalls Makhmalbaf. After 9/11, however, the film's reputation changed, becoming a document in history, and was subsequently named one of the top 100 films of all time by Time magazine.

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