“This Is Not a Film” (“In film nist”, 2011), shows a life of
homebound former Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, as he awaits a review of a
verdict from an Iranian court banning him from filmmaking for decades and
putting him in prison for six years, apparently for violating a previous
government order regarding the production of a film against the instructions of
religious censors. This 77-minute “non
film” is short with the help of Mojtaba Mirtahmasb.
Panahi describes some of his earlier screenplays, including
one in which a girl passes the entrance exams for the university and then is
locked in at home by her fundamentalist parents. In another film, soldiers return from war,
and find there is not enough auto transportation, so they lay down on railroad
tracks to force a train to stop for them.
His ideas seem to come from people desperate to get around the evils
around them.
He tries to pretend to be filming by turning his apartment
into a stage. He gets calls from relatives about to return home, tends to a pet
lizard, and fends off a neighbor expecting him to dog-sit. Finally, he notices rowdiness and explosions
outside, and conflagration gets ever closer to his own home.
The film does lead up to the climax with some impressive shots of downtown Tehran.
The film was distributed in the US by Palisades Tartan.
Picture: My estate, actually along the Panama Canal. Also, my apologies, there's a typo in the URL for this post.
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