I was in jail four and a half years. When I came out, I continued the same struggle against injustice, but instead of using weapons, I began to use art and cinema.

Time magazine selected Makhmalbaf's 2001 film Kandahar as one of top 100 films of all time. Makhmalbaf left Iran in 2005 shortly after the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and now lives in Paris following the events of the 2009 Iranian presidential election.