Tehran is the birthplace of many politicians, philosophers, writers, and artists such as Sadeq Hedayat, the greatest Iranian novelist whose magnum opus The Blind Owl has been translated into many foreign languages, the great scientist and philosopher Razi, who is better known in the West as Rhases, director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, whose film Kandahar won international acclaim, and modern poet Ahmad Shamlu, who greatly influenced Latin American poets.