It's been months since Jafar Panahi, stuck in jail, has been awaiting a verdict by the appeals court. By depicting a day in his life, Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb try to portray the deprivations looming in contemporary Iranian cinema.
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In a secluded house by the sea with the curtains shut, a screenwriter hides from the world with only his dog as company. The tranquility is abruptly broken one night by the arrival of a ... See full summary »
When a young girl becomes lost in the hustle and bustle of Tehran, her journey turns into a dazzling exercise on the nature of film itself. In this ingenious and daringly original feature, ... See full summary »
Director:
Jafar Panahi
Stars:
Mina Mohammad Khani,
Aida Mohammadkhani,
Kazem Mojdehi
Irreverent city engineer Behzad comes to a rural village in Iran to keep vigil for a dying relative. In the meanwhile the film follows his efforts to fit in with the local community and how he changes his own attitudes as a result.
Director:
Abbas Kiarostami
Stars:
Behzad Dorani,
Noghre Asadi,
Roushan Karam Elmi
In Tuscany to promote his latest book, a middle-aged British writer meets a French woman who leads him to the village of Lucignano. While there, a chance question reveals something deeper.
Director:
Abbas Kiarostami
Stars:
Juliette Binoche,
William Shimell,
Jean-Claude Carrière
It's been months since Jafar Panahi, stuck in jail, has been awaiting a verdict by the appeals court. By depicting a day in his life, Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb try to portray the deprivations looming in contemporary Iranian cinema.
Director Jafar Panahi was put under house arrest in 2010 and banned from filmmaking for 20 years. This film was smuggled out of Iran on a USB stick hidden in a cake. See more »
This movie definitely gets the "most interesting back-story" award for the year. Iranian film maker Jafar Panahi was punished for producing films that the government of his home land found objectionable with a sentence of six years in jail and a twenty year ban on the writing, directing, and/or production of films. While at home on bail awaiting the ruling of the appeals court, he began looking for ways around this. He already had one unproduced screenplay that he had written before the ban, which technically did not him from acting or reading screenplays that were already completed. He invited a friend who was a camera man over to tape him reading from (and to some extent, acting out) said screenplay. Technically, he was not disobeying the court order and technically "This (Was) Not a Film". Of course, these technicalities did not deter the film maker from cautiously smuggling the picture out of the country in a birthday cake before its release on the film festival circuit.
What starts out as a mere reading of the completed script ends up being a meditation on art, film-making, Iranian culture, and many other things. For fans of the director, it is an intriguing look into the mind of a master of his craft. For general audiences, it may be a little dry. I found it to be not only an interesting look into Panahi's thought processes, but into the plight of a film maker who loves his people but finds the constraints pf the oppressive government that rules them to be too constricting to allow the artistic process to flourish. Furthermore, it is a look into how any artist MUST struggle to express themselves no matter how difficult their current circumstances have made that task. If any of these themes sound particularly intriguing, by all means check the film out. If it doesn't sound like your particular cup of tea...as I said, a little dry...4 out of 5 stars.
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This Is Not a Film -
This movie definitely gets the "most interesting back-story" award for the year. Iranian film maker Jafar Panahi was punished for producing films that the government of his home land found objectionable with a sentence of six years in jail and a twenty year ban on the writing, directing, and/or production of films. While at home on bail awaiting the ruling of the appeals court, he began looking for ways around this. He already had one unproduced screenplay that he had written before the ban, which technically did not him from acting or reading screenplays that were already completed. He invited a friend who was a camera man over to tape him reading from (and to some extent, acting out) said screenplay. Technically, he was not disobeying the court order and technically "This (Was) Not a Film". Of course, these technicalities did not deter the film maker from cautiously smuggling the picture out of the country in a birthday cake before its release on the film festival circuit.
What starts out as a mere reading of the completed script ends up being a meditation on art, film-making, Iranian culture, and many other things. For fans of the director, it is an intriguing look into the mind of a master of his craft. For general audiences, it may be a little dry. I found it to be not only an interesting look into Panahi's thought processes, but into the plight of a film maker who loves his people but finds the constraints pf the oppressive government that rules them to be too constricting to allow the artistic process to flourish. Furthermore, it is a look into how any artist MUST struggle to express themselves no matter how difficult their current circumstances have made that task. If any of these themes sound particularly intriguing, by all means check the film out. If it doesn't sound like your particular cup of tea...as I said, a little dry...4 out of 5 stars.
Review brought to you by www.TheMovieFrog.com - Check us Out!!!