NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� After being arrested for creating antigovernment propaganda in 2010, the Iranian director Jafar Panahi was banned from making films for 20 years. Since then, he鈥檚 made five widely acclaimed features.
His latest, opens soon in U.S. theaters while Panahi is in prison.
In July, Panahi went to the Tehran prosecutor鈥檚 office to inquire about the arrest of Mohammad Rasoulof, a filmmaker detained in the government鈥檚 crackdown on protests. Panahi himself was arrested and, on a decade-old charge, .
Panahi鈥檚 films, made in Iran without government approval, are sly feats of artistic resistance. He plays himself in meta self-portraitures that clandestinely capture the mechanics of Iranian society with a humanity both playful and devastating. Panahi made in his apartment. was shot almost entirely inside a car, with a smiling Panahi playing the driver and picking up passengers along the way.
In 鈥淣o Bears,鈥� Panahi plays a fictionalized version of himself while making a film in a rural town along the Iran-Turkey border. It鈥檚 one of the most acclaimed films of the year. and named it one of the top 10 films of the year. Film critic Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times .
鈥淣o Bears鈥� is landing at a time when the Iranian film community is increasingly ensnarled in a harsh government crackdown. A week after 鈥淣o Bears鈥� premiered at the Venice Film Festival, with Panahi already behind bars, while being held by Iran鈥檚 morality police. Her death that have rocked Iran鈥檚 theocracy.
More than 500 protesters have been killed in the crackdown since Sept. 17, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. More than 18,200 people have been detained.
On Saturday, after posting an Instagram message expressing solidarity with a man recently executed for crimes allegedly committed during the protests.
In the outcry that followed Alidoosti鈥檚 arrest, Farhadi 鈥� the director of 鈥淎 Separation鈥� and 鈥淎 Hero鈥� 鈥� called for Alidoosti鈥檚 release 鈥渁longside that of my other fellow cineastes Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof and all the other less-known prisoners whose only crime is the attempt for a better life.鈥�
鈥淚f showing such support is a crime, then tens of millions of people of this land are criminals,鈥�
Panahi鈥檚 absence has been acutely felt on the world鈥檚 top movie stages. At Venice, where 鈥淣o Bears鈥� was given a special jury prize, a red-carpet walkout was staged at the film鈥檚 premiere. Festival director Alberto Barbera and jury president Julianne Moore were among the throngs silently protesting the imprisonment of Panahi and other filmmakers.
鈥淣o Bears鈥� will also again test a long-criticized Academy Awards policy. Submissions for the Oscars' best international film category are made only by a country鈥檚 government. Critics have said that allows authoritative regimes to dictate which films compete for the sought-after prize.
Arthouse distributors Sideshow and Janus Films, which helped lead a year ago, acquired 鈥淣o Bears鈥� with the hope that its merit and Panahi鈥檚 cause would outshine that restriction.
鈥淗e puts himself at risk every time he does something like this,鈥� says Jonathan Sehring, Sideshow founder and a veteran independent film executive. 鈥淲hen you have regimes that won鈥檛 even let a filmmaker make a movie and in spite of it they do, it鈥檚 inspiring.鈥�
鈥淲e knew it wasn鈥檛 going to be the Iranian submission, obviously,鈥� adds Sehring. 鈥淏ut we wanted to position Jafar as a potential best director, best screenplay, a number of different categories. And we also believe the film can work theatrically.鈥�
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences declined to comment on possible reforms to the international film category. Among for the award announced Wednesday was After Iranian authorities declined to authorize it, director Ali Abbasi shot the film, based on real-life serial killings, in Jordan.
鈥淣o Bears鈥� opens in New York on Dec. 23 and Los Angeles on Jan. 10 before rolling out nationally.
In it, Panahi rents an apartment from which he, with a fitful internet signal, directs a film with the help of assistants. Their handing off cameras and memory cards gives, perhaps, an illuminating window into how Panahi has worked under government restrictions. In 鈥淣o Bears,鈥� he comes under increasing pressure from village authorities who believe he's accidentally captured a compromising image.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not easy to make a movie to begin with, but to make it secretly is very difficult, especially in Iran where a totalitarian government with such tight control over the country and spies everywhere,鈥� says Iranian film scholar and documentarian Jamsheed Akrami-Ghorveh. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really a triumph. I can鈥檛 compare him with any other filmmaker.鈥�
In one of the film's most moving scenes, Panahi stands along the border at night. Gazing at the lights in the distance, he contemplates crossing it 鈥� a life in exile that Panahi in real life steadfastly refused to ever adopt.
Some aspects of the film are incredibly close to reality. Parts of 鈥淣o Bears鈥� were shot in Turkey just like the film within the film. In Turkey, an Iranian couple (played by Mina Kavani and Bakhiyar Panjeei) are trying to obtain stolen passports to reach Europe.
Kavani herself has been living in exile for the last seven years. She starred in Sepideh Farsi鈥檚 2014 romance 鈥淩ed Rose.鈥� When nudity in the film led to media harassment, Kavani chose to live in Paris. Kavani was struck by the profound irony of Panahi directing her by video chat from over the border.
鈥淭his is the genius of his art. The idea that we were both in exile but on a different side was magic,鈥� says Kavani. 鈥淗e was the first person that talked about that, what鈥檚 happening to exiled Iranian people outside of Iran. This is very interesting to me, that he is in exile in his own country, but he鈥檚 talking about those who left his country.鈥�
Many of Panahi's colleagues imagine that even in his jail cell, Panahi is probably thinking through his next film 鈥� whether he ever gets to make it or not. When 鈥淣o Bears鈥� played at the New York Film Festival, Kavani read a statement from Panahi.
鈥淭he history of Iranian cinema witnesses the constant and active presence of independent directors who have struggled to push back censorship and to ensure the survival of this art," it said. "While on this path, some were banned from making films, others were forced into exile or reduced to isolation. And yet, the hope of creating again is a reason for existence. No matter where, when, or under what circumstances, an independent filmmaker is either creating or thinking."
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
