The film, prised at the Cannes Film Festival, received the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) "Fellini" Award two weeks ago and Mr. Makhbalbaf said he would keep the money for the construction of a school in Qandahar, once Afghanistan is freed from the "black rule" of the Taleban Islamists.

In Kandahar, Mr. Makhmalbaf denounce with force the terror the Taleban extremists have imposed on the Afghan people, mostly on women

According to centrist daily "Le Figaro", US President George W. Bush had asked to see the film before its screaming in France and the French distributor of the film rushed a copy to the White House.

Below is Iran Press Service’s interview with both Mr. Makhmalbaf and Ms. Pazira.

IPS – Mr. Makhmalbaf, tell us how the idea of making this film came to you?

Mohsen Makhmalbaf – About 13 years ago, I made a film named "Bicycle Run", having Afghanistan as subject. To make that movie, I travelled to Pakistan, crossed southern parts of Afghanistan et shot parts of the film in Pakistan.

The "Bicycle Run" is the story of an Afghan émigré who’s wife is in hospital and to meet the expenses, he has to work seven days a week, pedalling on his old bicycle, running from one side of the city to another and, as he gets weaker and emaciated, a Bazaar that is in the making is getting larger, stronger and fatter every day.

In fact, the idea of making another film about that country that was always under foreign yoke that brought nothing but poverty and destruction was in my mind. After Mollah Mohammad (Omar, the Taleban’s supreme leader) whom no one had heard his name came with a white flag, the poor Afghan people, tired and sick of years of internal wars, welcomed him without knowing that the government he represented was a joint product of the Saudis and the Pakistanis. Mollah Omar had never written a letter to see if he makes mistakes or not..

IPS – What difficulties and challenges you met during the filming?

M M – To make this film, I made a secret and dangerous trip inside parts of the Taleban-controlled areas of Afghanistan. The film is partly made in borders with Iran. I had to talk to many Afghans, women, children, and old men and with the opposition. Although it is my sixteenth full-length film, yet it was the first time that I would experience a certain feeling, an attachment to the problems of that country, a feeling like a kind of love. I think if you too, would have travelled to Afghanistan, you would have the same kind of sentiments. When I speak with Westerners who have been in Afghanistan, I realise that all of us have the same sympathy with Afghanistan’s miseries. One cannot be witness to so many poverty, ruin and calamities without becoming mad at all the world’s statesmen.

IPS – Following the 11 September terrorist operations in New York and Washington, Afghanistan is in the centre of attentions from all parts. From your own experiences with this country, do you think there is any political solution to the problem to the Afghan problem?

M M – I think there are three major problems in Afghanistan: economic; educational and political.

The economic problem is so urgent that if the country is deprived of outside food for even one day, a lot of people would die. There are right now three million facing death in this country. When we were filming, often we would stop working to distribute food between the hungry ones, or take them to doctors, or bring the doctor to them, to the extend that sometimes we would forgot why we had come here at all?

Because of our sympathy for the poor Afghan people, I even wrote a letter to (the Iranian President) Mohammad Khatami and the affair went to the Majles (Iranian parliament). Therefore, I think that the most urgent task before the international community is to address this one. One must pay attention that not only the body, but also the soul of the Afghan people have been damaged. Just think of a father and son fighting each other for a piece of bread.

The problem of education is so acute and so immense that, to give an example, 95 per cent of Afghan women would never attend school even before the Taleban. The rate of illiterates is very high. Here, I have to say shame to us Iranians because 50.000 Afghani children have no right to attend schools in Iran.

Concerning the political problem, let’s hope that this country could manage to decide for its future without any foreign intervention and form a government that could solve the two first problems quickly.

IPS – Ms. Niloofar Pazira, could you please tell us about your role in the film Kandahar?

Niloofar Pazira – My role, in the film Kandahar, as an Afghan woman, is a true story of my life. I’ve a friend in Afghanistan with whom I grew ever since childhood and after my leaving Afghanistan, we used to write to each other.

After the Taleban took the power, as she could not go out of the house, she became depressed. In a letter, she told me that life had no meaning for her and wanted to put an end to it and wished me luck and success.

Extremely anxious, I undertook a desperate trip to Afghanistan in order to help my friend who, in the film, is supposed to be my sister. In other word, though it is to help that woman that I go back to Afghanistan, but from the outset, I’m the witness of so many hardships and such a great number of problems that the image of my friend (my sister) become several folds larger while that of hundreds of thousands of Afghan women who not only are hidden under the "burqa", but are also prisoners in the hands of a paternalistic culture imposed on them.

To this image is added that of the people who have lost their legs on mines. And also the image of the children who are repelled from Iran back to Afghanistan, and told they could not attend school. And again, the image of the families who from Iran and Pakistan, come back to Afghanistan, because there is no place for them in those two neighbouring nations.

IPS – In your view, what is the most important message of this film?

N P – The film Kandahar was made to attract the attention of an indifferent world to the great problems of Afghanistan. But after the painful events of 11 September, the film has got another meaning. For, as you know, after that date, the world, particularly the Americans, have been focused to Afghanistan. But unfortunately, it seems that this attention is generated more by revenge than humanitarian cause. My sincere wish is that the world community could find a real and lasting solution for Afghanistan.

I have to insist that the departure of the Taleban would not solve the problem of Afghanistan, a country that is plunged into war for the past 25 years, where two generations have lived and raised in extreme poverty, ready for both being sacrificed and kill as well.

Therefore, we have to pay attention first to the question of education. And I sincerely hope that after Mollah Omar, no more mollah would be created for our people. I also think that bombing Afghanistan would solve nothing. Remember, when the Taleban were talking about holy war, every one would laugh at them. But now, because they are bombed, they would find a real occasion to declare holly war against an outside enemy.

IPS – What is your wishes for your country?