This Is Not a Film
Encyclopedia
This Is Not a Film is an Iranian documentary film by Jafar Panahi
and Mojbata Mirtahmasb. It was released on 28 September 2011 in France, distributed by Kanibal Films Distribution. The film was smuggled from Iran to Cannes in a Flash-Drive hidden inside a birthday cake. It was specially screened at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
. It took also part in the International Competition of the 27. Warsaw International Film Festival
.
After Mr. Mirtahmasb's departure, Panahi takes his friend's camera and starts chatting with the boy who collects the litter in the apartment block, asking him questions about his life and plans for the future. This conversation takes places in the claustrophobic scenery of a lift, as the boy goes down from floor to floor and ever so often gets out of the lift to do his job.
Jafar Panahi
Jafar Panahi is an Iranian filmmaker and is one of the most influential filmmakers in the Iranian New Wave movement. He has gained recognition from film theorists and critics worldwide and received numerous awards including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Silver Bear at the...
and Mojbata Mirtahmasb. It was released on 28 September 2011 in France, distributed by Kanibal Films Distribution. The film was smuggled from Iran to Cannes in a Flash-Drive hidden inside a birthday cake. It was specially screened at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
2011 Cannes Film Festival
The 64th annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 11 to May 22, 2011. American actor Robert De Niro served as the president of the jury for the main competition and French filmmaker Michel Gondry headed the jury for the short film competition...
. It took also part in the International Competition of the 27. Warsaw International Film Festival
Warsaw International Film Festival
Warsaw International Film Festival , also known as the Warsaw FilmFest, is a film festival held every October in Warsaw, Poland. The festival has been held every year since 1985....
.
Synopsis
Panahi is under house arrest, awaiting the result of his appeal of a six year prison sentence and twenty year ban on film-making, leaving the country or giving media interviews for "propaganda against the regime". Bored and desperate that this verdict may mean his artistic death, he starts documenting his life. He begins filming himself in his apartment, then calls his friend and collaborator, Mirtahmasb, who arrives at the apartment and takes over the camera. Banned from film making and determined to save at least some of his artistic visions, Panahi reads some of the scenario from the movie he was planning to make. Upon hearing fireworks marking the anient Iranian festival Chaharshambe Suri that precedes the Persian new year, Nouruz, and other suspicious noices resembling shots, he gets scarred and quickly stops this project. He turns on the TV to hear the news. We see news about the tsunami in Japan and later it is announced that Iran's president has banned any fireworks and bonfires that used to mark Chaharshambe Suri.After Mr. Mirtahmasb's departure, Panahi takes his friend's camera and starts chatting with the boy who collects the litter in the apartment block, asking him questions about his life and plans for the future. This conversation takes places in the claustrophobic scenery of a lift, as the boy goes down from floor to floor and ever so often gets out of the lift to do his job.
External links
- Review "Ceci n'est pas un film" : ceci n'est pas un cinéaste iranien menacé Review in Le monde, 27 September 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- Review in Variety 20 May 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- Review in Reuters 20 May 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2011.