This is Not a Film

This clandestine documentary, shot partially on an iPhone and smuggled into France in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes, depicts the day-to-day life of acclaimed director Jafar Panahi (Offside, The Circle) during his house arrest in his Tehran apartment. While appealing his sentence – six years in prison and a 20 year ban from filmmaking – Panahi is seen talking to his family and lawyer on the phone, discussing his plight with his friend and reflecting on the meaning of the art of filmmaking.

Background: Renowned Iranian director, Jafar Panahi, received a 6-year prison sentence and a 20-year ban from filmmaking and conducting interviews with foreign press due to his open support of the opposition party in Iran's 2009 election. In this documentary, which was secretly shot on an iPhone and a modest DV camera by Panahi's close friend Mojtaba Mirtahmasb and smuggled into France in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes, Panahi shares his day-to-day life as he waits for a decision on his appeal. Since his detention in 2009, Panahi's cause has won international support from the film community. Juliette Binoche was instrumental in bringing his story into the spotlight at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival when she took the stage carrying a sign that read JAFAR PANAHI and Isabella Rossellini followed suit at the Berlin International Film Festival. World renowned directors, including Joel and Ethan Coen, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan
Demme, Robert De Niro, Curtis Hanson, Jim Jarmusch, Ang Lee, Richard Linklater, Terrence Malick, Michael Moore, Robert Redford, Martin Scorsese, James Schamus, Paul Schrader, Steven Soderbergh, Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone and Frederick Wiseman signed a letter of support calling for his release. In December, Sean Penn, Martin Scorsese, and distributor Harvey Weinstein, among others, signed an Amnesty International petition for him as well. More recently, his co-director Mojtaba Mirtahmasb was detained at the Tehran airport while heading over to attend the film's premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, which sent shockwaves at the Toronto International Film Festival. Panahi, whose critically acclaimed work includes OFFSIDE (2006) and THE CIRCLE (2000), is currently under house arrest, struggling to obtain a plea deal. His appeal to the six-year prison sentence was denied in October 2011.

“As inspiring as it is heartbreaking.” (Time Out New York)

“Turns censorship into art...stunning.” (indieWIRE)