Born in 1980 in Tehran, Samira Makhmalbaf, at the age of eight, acted in “The Cyclist” directed by her father and celebrated Iranian filmmaker, Mohsen Makhmalbaf. At the age of 17, she directed her first feature titled "The Apple” and became the youngest director to participate in the official section of the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. Samira’s second feature film, “The Blackboard” (1999), won the Special Jury Award at Cannes and the “Federico Fellini Honor Award” from UNESCO.