BLACKBOARDS succeeded in leaving the London Film Festival 2000 audience, enthusiastic, absorbed and open-mouthed. The film is like a door to another world and one that most, having seen it, would be glad they are not living in.

In a striking scene at the beginning of the film, a group of male teachers set out into the hills carrying chalk and blackboards strapped to their backs in the hope of finding rural villagers eager to educate.

The film follows the exploits of two of these teachers, first Reeboir who tries to convince a group of contraband smugglers near the Iraqi border that education would help their cause - they are less than convinced - and Said, another teacher who travels alone.

Said stumbles across a group of nomadic villagers, old men and children mostly, who are trooping towards the border in search of a new homeland. One has an unmarried daughter. She is not going to be the greatest catch in the world, but Said decides to marry her using his blackboard as a dowry. He hopes at least to teach his wife and the young son that comes with her. It would be a start.

Twenty-year-old old Samira Makhmalbaf made her directorial debut in 1998 with The Apple about two twin girls locked away from the world by their father. Blackboards won this year's Grand Prix du Jury and it's easy to see why. This is a startling film that gives you a fascinating, albeit depressing view of Iranian rural life close to the Iraqi border.

Samira introduces the blackboard in a variety of situations - as an alternative to a washing line, a stretcher, a door (when Said wants to some privacy with his wife), and even a shield against Iraqi bullets. It gets little use in the education department, for as Said discovers, the people he is trying to educate have a greater priority - self-preservation.

As is sometimes the case with Iranian films, operating under a strict censorship code, Blackboards can seem a little slow-paced, allowing your attention to wander at times. But as a startling and symbolic docu-drama it highlights the unstinting optimism and stamina of a group of villagers facing a great deal of hardship on the fringe of Iranian society.