This is Not a Film

Movie propaganda

The ‘day in the life’ documentary by Jafar Panahi under his current house arrest was smuggled out of Iran to France on a USB stick inside a cake where the film was selected for official competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Panahi was also awarded the Carrosse d’Or for courage at Cannes in his absence. This is Not a Film was shot almost entirely inside Panahi’s apartment on digital video and an iPhone. Jafar Panahi (The Circle, Offside, The Mirror) is currently under house arrest, after a sentence was passed in December 2010 when the Iranian government accused him of opposing the Iranian regime. Panahi has denied the charges and This is Not a Film features him awaiting an appeal on the sentence of a six-year prison term, plus a 20-year ban on filmmaking, talking to the press and travelling abroad. Reported in the Iranian press and by AFP over the weekend, a Tehran appeals court has upheld the sentence against Panahi. It has not been confirmed when the sentence will be carried out. Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, the co-director of This is Not a Film, was arrested on 19 September along with five other Iranian filmmakers and accused of spying for the BBC. Two of the filmmakers have since been released, but those still imprisoned have not been allowed to see their families and their fate is uncertain.

Persons of interest

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

• documentary