Hana and her Sister

Another Makhmalbaf up for Movie Award

Hana Makhmalbaf comes from Iran's most successful film family. Both her father Mohsen and older sister Samira are acclaimed directors, having won awards all over the world as well as being hailed by critics and the public alike.

But Hana seems to have upstaged even her flamboyant sister Samira who first made headlines when she was the youngest director awarded a Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize at the age of 20. At that time, Hana was credited as an assistant producer on her sister’s film. Now Hana, at the ripe age of 14, has completed her first full-length film, Joy of Madness, will compete for the 100,000 euro (US$ 113,000.00) prize for best debut film at the Venice Film festival. This is not Hana’s first film venture, as she made her first short film The Day My Aunt Was Ill when she was 8, screening it at a multitude of international film festivals.

There seems to be no sibling rivalry as Samira has said Joy of Madness is better than both her own At Five in the Afternoon (Winner of the 2003 Cannes Jury Prize) and Kandahar, an international arthouse hit helmed by their father Mohsen. Hana and Samira also have a brother, Maysam, who has served on his siblings’ features as well as being a filmmaker and writer in his own right. To make matters even more familial, Joy of Madness is a chronicle about Hana’s sister Samira during the making of Five in the Afternoon, set in modern-day Afghanistan.

Joy of Madness has been well received and is one of the handful of films handpicked to play during the Venice Festival's “Critics' Week.” The success of Hana's film is said to be down to the fact that she was able to wander the city alone with a digital camera - although she was reportedly almost kidnapped on one occasion.

The Venice Film Festival runs from 27 August to 6 September.

Hana on the set of “The Joy of Madness” Samira at the Cannes Film Festival

Hana started attending Mahkmalbaf film school after she
finished second grade and studied cinema for 5 years.

Like her siblings, Hana grew up on the film sets
of her famous father.