SILVER

[خرس نیست] [KHERS NIST]
One of the world's great cinematic artists, Jafar Panahi (3 FACES, CRIMSON GOLD, OFFSIDE, 2015's TAXI), has been carefully crafting self-reflexive works about artistic, personal and political freedom in Iran for the past three decades, despite his oppression at the hands of the Iranian government. Now, as the international film community vehemently denounces his summer 2022 arrest and continued imprisonment for his vocal support of a fellow artist's independence, Panahi has gifted us all with a new virtuosic sleight-of-hand. In NO BEARS, as in many of his recent titles, Panahi plays a fictionalized version of himself, in this case relocated to a rural border town to remotely direct a new film in nearby Turkey — the story of which comes to mirror disturbing events that occur around him. As he struggles to complete his film, Panahi finds himself thrust in the middle of a local scandal, confronting the opposing pulls of tradition and progress, city and country, belief and evidence and the universal desire to reject oppression. (Note courtesy of Sideshow and Janus Films.) Winner, Special Jury Prize, 2022 Venice Film Festival. Official Selection, 2022 Toronto, Zurich, Chicago, New York and London film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Jafar Panahi. Iran, 2022, color, 107 min. In Persian with English subtitles. NOT RATED

AFI Member passes accepted.