This Is Not a Jafar Panahi Retrospective

February 8–March 19

Over the past 30 years, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has crafted an internationally renowned career from an artistic output that explores the sociopolitical circumstances of life in contemporary Iran by using nonprofessional actors, simple premises, real locations and a unique, self-reflexive approach to storytelling. Mentored by fellow Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami, Panahi centers his work on those marginalized by Iranian society: children, women and artists. After running afoul of the government while making his first five films — three of which were banned in Iran before release — Panahi received a 20-year ban from filmmaking, an unjust sentence that would be the death knell for the careers of most filmmakers. Instead, Panahi continued to make films underground and release them internationally to critical acclaim, making him one of only four filmmakers — alongside Henri-Georges Clouzot, Michelangelo Antonioni and Robert Altman — to win the top prize at the three most prestigious European film festivals: the Palme d’Or from Cannes, the Golden Bear from Berlin and the Golden Lion from Venice. This seven-film series represents the majority of Panahi’s celebrated output — with a rare screening of his feature debut THE WHITE BALLOON from a 35mm print courtesy of the TIFF Film Reference Library — and presents an opportunity to dive into the work of one of cinema’s fiercest and most uncompromising artists.