this is not a film (jafar panahi)

Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi's "This Is Not A Film" ("In Film Nist" in Farsi) premiered at Cannes on Thursday after being smuggled out of the Islamic republic where the dissident has been sentenced to six years in jail.

It depicts a day in Panahi's life as he waits to hear the appeal's verdict on his jail sentence, as well as a 20-year filmmaking and travel ban.


While co-director Mojtaba Mirtahmasb shoots him on video—and sometimes just leaves the camera running when he’s not there—Panahi reads and acts out scenes from a movie he’s been forbidden to make, about a girl who’s been imprisoned in her house by her family to prevent her from going to university. 


After all, no one has said he can’t read or act. So Panafi tapes off an area of a Persian rug in his spacious high-rise home to represent the girl’s room, and maps out the action.


On speaker phone, we also hear Panahi discuss his plight with his female lawyer, who is pessimistic. She predicts the 20-year ban might be removed, but at best his prison term will just be reduced...