Gabbeh

Mohsen Makhmalbaf journeyed to Iran’s remote steppes to film a vanishing nomadic tribe, but, enchanted by the landscape and the stories woven into their gabbeh carpets, his documentary evolved into a lyrical folktale. On a riverbank, an elderly couple washes their gabbeh. From its woven threads emerges a beautiful young woman—Gabbeh herself—who tells her story: She loves a mysterious horseman who trails her nomadic clan across the mountains. Though her father has blessed their union, seasons pass and the rider only circles closer, never arriving. This tender romance is interlaced with the lives of the nomads, whose days are shaped by nature’s rhythms and the brilliantly-hued carpets that hold their histories.