About

Following his ban from filmmaking by the Iranian government in 2010, Jafar Panahi has released five features, each shot under varying levels of creative secrecy. His latest work, the acclaimed No Bears, is perhaps his most expansive canvas, with the filmmaking turning his lens to the clash between tradition and modernity, the strictures of authoritarianism on any scale, and the unintended victims of artistic expression.

The film finds Panahi playing a fictionalised version of himself. Unable to leave the country, he stays in a small village on the Iranian border while remotely directing a film in nearby Turkey. After taking photographs around the village, he unwittingly finds himself involved in a local scandal that begins to spiral beyond his control.

Shortly before the film’s premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival—where it was awarded the Special Jury Prize—Panahi was arrested for offering public support to fellow persecuted Iranian artists. He was sentenced to six years imprisonment and the film was denounced by the Iranian government. Despite the circumstances of its production, the film bursts with warmth and humour, alongside Panahi’s righteous anger. It is a metatextual exploration of the director’s artistic life more than a decade into a ban on his practice, and his realisation of his resistance against those restrictions has never been more vivid.

Ages 15+