This Is Not A Film (Jafar Panahi, Cannes 2011) / ‏این فیلم نیست

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Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi's "This Is Not A Film" premiered at Cannes on Thursday after being smuggled out of the Islamic republic where the dissident has been sentenced to six years in jail.
The film, "In Film Nist" in Farsi and screening out of competition, 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 film-making ban and a travel ban.
An Iranian court in December handed Panahi, 50, the sentence after he was convicted of "propaganda against the system" for making a film about unrest after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009.
Fellow Iranian Mohammad Rasoulof, whose "Be Omid e Didar" ("Goodbye") is being shown in the festival's Un Certain Regard section, received the same sentence but he arrived in Cannes Tuesday after his travel ban was lifted.
"This Is Not A Film" begins with what sounds like distant sporadic gunfire ringing out, followed by sirens. But, just as this is not a film, it transpires that the gunfire is in fact fireworks during a traditional fire festival.
But again, things are not what they seem. The festival is often seized on as an opportunity to protest -- implicitly or explicitly -- against the government, and some kind of protest going on is hinted at during the film.
This year, the festival fell on the night of March 15, the day during which Panahi's film was shot.
Panahi wanders around his surprisingly plush apartment, talking to his lawyer on the phone and trying to build a relationship with a large pet lizard.
A woman neighbour comes to try and get him to look after her dog, and a man studying for a master's degree in the arts becomes an accidental protagonist when he arrives to collect the rubbish.
Mirtahmasb shoots Panahi with a professional video camera, while Panahi shoots with an iPhone, raising the question: is what he's doing making a film?
"You call this a film?" Panahi asks Mirtahmasb at one point.
Panahi reads from and enacts a film script about a girl who is locked up to prevent her going to university. The script was was refused by Iranian authorities, again raising the question: when does a film become a film?
Panahi watches extracts from his own films, comparing himself to some of his characters, including a little girl acting in his 1997 film "The Mirror" who refuses to act and throws off the cast on her arm.
"I must remove my cast and throw it away," Panahi says.
The film's credits roll with "Thanks to colleagues:" and "Many thanks to:" followed by blank spaces and then an announcement that the film is "Dedicated to Iranian film-makers."
Panahi has been feted in his absence at foreign film festivals and Cannes is no exception.
The film's co-director, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, addressed the audience before the screening.
"I'm very happy that the film could be made and very happy that it's at Cannes," he said. "The god Zaroastra said that to fight darkness you don't brandish a sword but you light a candle."
Berlin in February, Venice in September and Cannes a year ago all invited him to sit on their juries, leaving a symbolic empty chair for him when he was barred from leaving Iran.
Panahi is known for his gritty, socially critical movies such as "The Circle," which bagged the 2000 Venice Golden Lion award, "Crimson Gold," and "Offside," winner of a Silver Bear at the 2006 Berlin film festival.

« این فیلم نیست » تازه ترین کار جعفر پناهی که برای نخستین بار عصر پنجشنبه در فستیوال کن بنمایش درآمد، یکروز از زندگی پناهی را به تصویر میکشد که وی در انتظار تجدیدنظر در مورد حکم حبس و نیز بیست سال ممنوعیت فیلمسازی و ممنوع الخروجی خود است

By Charles Onians (AFP)
Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

• Category

  Film & Animation

[kambojiya32]

زنده باد جعفر پناهی

[cyrus k]

Dorood bar jafar panahi

[ARYAN PERS]

DROOOOOD BAR JAFAR KHAN.

chaharshanbeh sory , yadesh bekhair, gaye ma khaly.

[Akhunde Kuni]

Fuck islam , Free Iran !

[roisiles]

i bet you were waiting for Megan Fox to appear in a mini skirt

[TheNovemberfirst]

this is not a film

[WeakestSoldier]

What a cheap bastard. It's because you didn't get anywhere in life so you don't know how it feels when they tell you can't do what you love for the next 20 years. Get a life.

[Nima Tajbakhsh]

I watched this film today and I gotta say, it's definitely a little dry and it's not for everyone. It's not really meant to "Entertain" you but more like to inform you and let you know of the struggle. But overall, since I'm Iranian and I'm a film student I enjoyed it. And for the iphone comment. It's not all shot in iphone but towards the end he ends up using his iphone to intercut with the professional camera.

[mrkamy97]

I have no words ... I'm sorry, but you're an idiot.

[Head Jesuable]

and l must confess that be imprisioned in a HUGE house with apple products and a 50' television is not a bad idea.

[Head Jesuable]

This is as boring as watch my fucking dog play with his fucking balls.

[EL3V4TED]

i meant like a real camera and yes I know that an iPhone has a built in camera since I have one (32 GB generation 4), but what I did not know was the fact that the film was shot partially on an iPhone, as you just mentiond.