Afghan society is very complex, and Afghanistan has a very complex culture. Part of the reason it has remained unknown is because of this complexity.
Mohsen MakhmalbafThe Buddhas had to be destroyed by the Taliban to get the world thinking about Afghanistan.
Mohsen MakhmalbafI'm not playing myself. It's a symbolic situation, where I want to introduce a fascist behind the table. I couldn't have had anybody else do that; for it to be successful, I had to do it myself.
Mohsen MakhmalbafWhen we began filming, these people had legs, but as we were filming, they had been injured and they were brought to the hospital to have their legs amputated, and that's where we found them and asked them to come and be part of the film.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf