"This picture has become a big concern. It's paralyzing all of us." Janus Films has debuted the US trailer for the film No Bears, the latest acclaimed work by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi. He was imprisoned earlier this year simply for going to support another filmmaker friend who was wrongly imprisoned, all because they dare to speak their minds and make films about the world they live in. No Bears premiered at the 2022 Venice and Toronto and New York Film Festivals, with a very limited release coming over the next month. Panahi's new film No Bears portrays two parallel love stories. In both, the lovers are troubled by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition, and the mechanics of power. Panahi plays himself, trying to make a film across the border in Turkey, while getting into trouble with the locals in his own town. Also starring Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri,...
- 12/20/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Jailed director Jafar Panahi plays a version of himself, forced to shoot his new film in a town near the border with Turkey
As Iranian women rise up against their misogynist bullies, this is a good time to watch Jafar Panahi’s latest film, set in a village whose inhabitants are encouraged to be scared of supposed “bears” roaming the countryside – just as the Iranian people are supposed to be afraid of their morality police. No Bears is a complex, mysterious metafiction about the anguish of Iran and the artist working within Iran. Its creator, film-maker and democracy campaigner Panahi, has recently been sentenced to six years in jail after long periods of house arrest since a bogus propaganda charge in 2011.
Panahi plays “Jafar Panahi”, a film director who is forbidden to make films or leave the country. So his new movie is shooting in a small Turkish town just...
As Iranian women rise up against their misogynist bullies, this is a good time to watch Jafar Panahi’s latest film, set in a village whose inhabitants are encouraged to be scared of supposed “bears” roaming the countryside – just as the Iranian people are supposed to be afraid of their morality police. No Bears is a complex, mysterious metafiction about the anguish of Iran and the artist working within Iran. Its creator, film-maker and democracy campaigner Panahi, has recently been sentenced to six years in jail after long periods of house arrest since a bogus propaganda charge in 2011.
Panahi plays “Jafar Panahi”, a film director who is forbidden to make films or leave the country. So his new movie is shooting in a small Turkish town just...
- 11/9/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Imprison Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s “No Bears” has sold into North America, with Sideshow and Janus Films acquiring U.S. rights, and Films We Like buying the movie for Canada.
“No Bears,” which premiered earlier this month at the Venice Film Festival, portrays two parallel love stories. “In both, the lovers are troubled by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition and the mechanics of power,” reads an official synopsis.
The film is written, produced, and directed by Panahi, and stars Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjei, Mina Kavani, Narjes Dalaram and Reza Heydari.
The pic won Venice’s Special Jury Prize before appearing as a Special Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival. It will next screen at this month’s New York Film Festival and at the BFI London Film Festival.
Panahi was recently ordered by Iranian authorities to serve out a six-year sentence that he...
“No Bears,” which premiered earlier this month at the Venice Film Festival, portrays two parallel love stories. “In both, the lovers are troubled by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition and the mechanics of power,” reads an official synopsis.
The film is written, produced, and directed by Panahi, and stars Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjei, Mina Kavani, Narjes Dalaram and Reza Heydari.
The pic won Venice’s Special Jury Prize before appearing as a Special Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival. It will next screen at this month’s New York Film Festival and at the BFI London Film Festival.
Panahi was recently ordered by Iranian authorities to serve out a six-year sentence that he...
- 9/28/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Iranian’s Lido prize-winner heading to New York, London festivals.
Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all US rights from Celluloid Dreams to Jafar Panahi’s Venice special jury prize winner No Bears and will mount an awards push for the imprisoned Iranian director.
Films We Like has picked up all Canadian rights to the tale of two parallel love stories which explores superstition and the mechanics of power.
Panahi wrote, directed, produced and stars in No Bears alongside Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjei, Mina Kavani, Narjes Dalaram, and Reza Heydari.
The film screened in Toronto following its world...
Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all US rights from Celluloid Dreams to Jafar Panahi’s Venice special jury prize winner No Bears and will mount an awards push for the imprisoned Iranian director.
Films We Like has picked up all Canadian rights to the tale of two parallel love stories which explores superstition and the mechanics of power.
Panahi wrote, directed, produced and stars in No Bears alongside Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjei, Mina Kavani, Narjes Dalaram, and Reza Heydari.
The film screened in Toronto following its world...
- 9/28/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Iranian director Jafar Panahi remains behind bars in Tehran but his cinema continues to travel.
In a fresh sales announcement, Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all U.S rights and Films We Like has taken all Canadian rights to Panahi’s Venice Special Jury Prize winner ‘No Bears’.
Celluloid Dreams handles international sales.
U.S. distributors Sideshow and Janus Films are now planning an awards season campaign in the best director category for Panahi and will release the film in time for an Oscar push.
The director is currently serving a reactivated, six-year suspended prison sentence, originally handed out in 2010, after he was detained in July by Iranian authorities as part of a crackdown on freedom of expression and dissent.
Since then, tensions over the Iranian government’s authoritarian rule have ratcheted up in recent days amid protests over the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, while in custody for not wearing her burqa properly.
In a fresh sales announcement, Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all U.S rights and Films We Like has taken all Canadian rights to Panahi’s Venice Special Jury Prize winner ‘No Bears’.
Celluloid Dreams handles international sales.
U.S. distributors Sideshow and Janus Films are now planning an awards season campaign in the best director category for Panahi and will release the film in time for an Oscar push.
The director is currently serving a reactivated, six-year suspended prison sentence, originally handed out in 2010, after he was detained in July by Iranian authorities as part of a crackdown on freedom of expression and dissent.
Since then, tensions over the Iranian government’s authoritarian rule have ratcheted up in recent days amid protests over the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, while in custody for not wearing her burqa properly.
- 9/28/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired the U.S. rights to “No Bears,” the next film from Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who is imprisoned and serving a six-year prison sentence by the Iranian government.
Panahi’s latest film made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this fall and won the Special Jury Prize. It later played at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The accolades came shortly after Panahi was arrested by Iranian authorities after he had inquired about the status of two other detained Iranian directors. The government has now forced him to serve out a six-year jail sentence originally issued to Panahi in December 2010. At that time, he was banned for 20 years from directing movies, writing screenplays or giving any form of interview with an Iranian or foreign press, though he has since showcased other films such as “This Is Not a Film,” “Closed Curtain,” “Taxi” and...
Panahi’s latest film made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this fall and won the Special Jury Prize. It later played at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The accolades came shortly after Panahi was arrested by Iranian authorities after he had inquired about the status of two other detained Iranian directors. The government has now forced him to serve out a six-year jail sentence originally issued to Panahi in December 2010. At that time, he was banned for 20 years from directing movies, writing screenplays or giving any form of interview with an Iranian or foreign press, though he has since showcased other films such as “This Is Not a Film,” “Closed Curtain,” “Taxi” and...
- 9/28/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Jafar Panahi’s career can now be split into two distinct sections: his work prior to an initial 2010 arrest amidst Iran’s Green Movement, and his creative response following that. The latter, ongoing now but complicated by a new six-year prison sentence he has just commenced, constitutes one of the stranger and more miraculous stretches of work for any internationally renowned filmmaker. It’s a period, beginning with 2011’s still-revelatory This is Not a Film—famously smuggled out of Iran and to Cannes on a Usb stick inside a cake—that found Panahi working prolifically while attempting to evade detection and further punishment by the authorities—these two currents fusing to engender international solidarity for a predicament putting his life, let alone freedom, at risk.
So here we are in late 2022 and the situation is terminal, though we mustn’t forget the shoots of hope from his son Panah’s...
So here we are in late 2022 and the situation is terminal, though we mustn’t forget the shoots of hope from his son Panah’s...
- 9/19/2022
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
Winners repeatedly called for the release of Jafar Panahi and his colleagues.
Emotions ran high at the closing night of the Venice Film Festival, where the Golden Lion was awarded to Laura Poitras’ All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, only the second documentary to win in the festival’s 90-year history, but the third consecutive film directed by a woman to win the top prize, following Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland in 2020 and Audrey Diwan’s Happening in 2021.
There was also an outpouring of solidarity for Iranian director Jafar Panahi whose No Bears was awarded the special jury prize while he is custody in Iran,...
Emotions ran high at the closing night of the Venice Film Festival, where the Golden Lion was awarded to Laura Poitras’ All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, only the second documentary to win in the festival’s 90-year history, but the third consecutive film directed by a woman to win the top prize, following Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland in 2020 and Audrey Diwan’s Happening in 2021.
There was also an outpouring of solidarity for Iranian director Jafar Panahi whose No Bears was awarded the special jury prize while he is custody in Iran,...
- 9/12/2022
- by Alina Trabattoni
- ScreenDaily
The Film Circuit begins with Telluride, a small but perfect film festival in the mountains of Colorado as simultaneously Venice unfurls the films that will soon be released in the wonderful arthouse cinemas of Europe, followed closely by Toronto whose films foretell the coming year’s Oscars nominees. It is a very exciting time to be on the festival circuit.
And simultaneously with these great screenings are sidebars, panel discussions, workshops, master classes and all around great networking for filmmakers around the world.
Venezia 79 Competition
Il Signore Delle Formiche
Director Gianni Amelio
Main Cast Luigi Lo Cascio, Elio Germano, Leonardo Maltese, Sara Serraiocco / Italy / 134’
The Whale
Director Darren Aronofsky
Main Cast Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Samantha Morton, Ty Simpkins / USA / 117’
White Noise
Director Noah Baumbach
Main Cast Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, Jodie Turner-Smith, André L. Benjamin and Lars Eidinger / USA / 136’
L’IMMENSITÀ
Director Emanuele Crialese
Main Cast Penélope Cruz, Luana Giuliani, Vincenzo Amato, Patrizio Francioni / Italy, France / 97’
Saint Omer
Director Alice Diop
Main Cast Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Valérie Dréville, Aurélia Petit / France / 123’
Blonde
Director Andrew Dominik
Main Cast Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, Julianne Nicholson, Lily Fisher / USA / 166’
TÁR
Director Todd Field
Main Cast Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, Mark Strong / USA / 158’
Love Life
Director Kôji Fukada
Main Cast Fumino Kimura, Kento Nagayama, Atom Sunada / Japan, France / 123’
Bardo, Falsa CRÓNICA De Unas Cuantas Verdades
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Main Cast Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani, Ximena Lamadrid, Iker Sanchez Solano, Andrés Almeida, Francisco Rubio / Mexico / 174’
Athena
Director Romain Gavras
Main Cast Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, Alexis Manenti / France / 97’
Bones And All
Director Luca Guadagnino
Main Cast Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, Jessica Harper, David Gordon Green, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jake Horowitz / USA / 130’
The Eternal Daughter
Director Joanna Hogg
Main Cast Tilda Swinton, Joseph Mydell, Carly-Sophia Davies / UK, USA / 96’
Shab, Dakheli, Divar (Beyond The Wall)
Director Vahid Jalilvand
Main Cast Navid Mohammadzadeh, Diana Habibi, Amir Aghaee / Iran / 126’
The Banshees Of Inisherin
Director Martin McDonagh
Main Cast Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan / Ireland, UK, USA / 109’
Argentina, 1985
Director Santiago Mitre
Main Cast Ricardo Darín, Peter Lanzani, Alejandra Flechner, Norman Briski / Argentina, USA / 140’
Chiara
Director Susanna Nicchiarelli
Main Cast Margherita Mazzucco, Andrea Carpenzano, Carlotta Natoli, Paola Tiziana Cruciani, Luigi Lo Cascio / Italy, Belgium / 106’
Monica
Director Andrea Pallaoro
Main Cast Trace Lysette, Patricia Clarkson, Adriana Barraza, Emily Browning, Joshua Close / USA, Italy / 113’
Khers Nist (No Bears)
Director Jafar Panahi
Main Cast Jafar Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjeei, Mina Kavani, Reza Heydari / Iran / 107’
All The Beauty And The Bloodshed
Director Laura Poitras
USA / 117’
Un Couple
Director Frederick Wiseman
Main Cast Nathalie Boutefeu / France, USA / 64’
The Son
Director Florian Zeller
Main Cast Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins, Hugh Quarshie / UK / 124’
Les Miens
Director Roschdy Zem
Main Cast Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem, Meriem Serbah, Maïwenn, Rachid Bouchareb, Abel Jafrei, Nina Zem / France / 85’
Les Enfants Des Autres
Director Rebecca Zlotowski
Main Cast Virginie Efira, Roschdy Zem, Chiara Mastroianni, Callie Ferreira / France / 104’
Toronto is in spite of itself in a civilized sort of way in competition for the premieres with Venice, though the sequential festivals are serving different constituencies. Still, The Whale, for example is premiering in Venice and then traveling to TIFF.
TIFF Gala Presentations:
The Whale directed by Darren Aronofsky, produced and to be distributed in U.S. and actng as international sales agent A24.
TIFF says: “Brendan Fraser gives a career-defining performance in Darren Aronofsky’s arrestingly intimate drama about a reclusive English professor struggling with personal relationships and self-acceptance, adapted from the stage play by Samuel D. Hunter.”
Alice, Darling by Mary Nighy
Also playing are Alice, Darling (Mary Nighy) in which Anna Kendrick captures the anxious psychology of a woman in an abusive relationship as her friends try to reconnect with her while on a cottage getaway.
Black Ice(Hubert Davis) about Black hockey players facing systemic racism in the sport.
The Greatest Beer Run Ever (Peter Farrelly) about man’s story of leaving New York in 1967 to bring beer to his childhood buddies in the Army while they are fighting in Vietnam. An Apple TV+ production.
Butcher’s Crossing (Gabe Polsky) is a frontier epic about an Ivy League drop-out as he travels to the Colorado wilderness, where he joins a team of buffalo hunters on a journey that puts his life and sanity at risk. Based on the highly acclaimed novel by John Williams. Isa Altitude
The Hummingbird (Francesca Archibugi)Hunt (Jung-jae Lee)A Jazzman’s Blues (Tyler Perry)Kacchey Limbu (Shubham Yogi)Moving On (Paul Weitz)Paris Memories (Alice Winocour)Prisoner’s Daughter (Catherine Hardwicke)Raymond & Ray (Rodrigo García)Roost (Amy Redford)Sidney (Reginald Hudlin)The Son (Florian Zeller)The Swimmers (Sally El Hosaini)What’s Love Got to Do With It? (Shekhar Kapur)The Woman King(Gina Prince-Bythewood)
Special PRESENTATIONSAllelujah (Sir Richard Eyre)All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward Berger)The Banshees Of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)Blueback (Robert Connolly)The Blue Caftan (Maryam Touzani)Broker (Hirokazu Kore-eda)Brother (Clement Virgo)Bros (Nicholas Stoller)Catherine Called Birdy (Lena Dunham)Causeway (Lila Neugebauer)Chevalier (Stephen Williams)Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook)Devotion (Jd Dillard)Driving (Madeleine Christian Carion)El Suplente (Diego Lerman)Empire of Light...
And simultaneously with these great screenings are sidebars, panel discussions, workshops, master classes and all around great networking for filmmakers around the world.
Venezia 79 Competition
Il Signore Delle Formiche
Director Gianni Amelio
Main Cast Luigi Lo Cascio, Elio Germano, Leonardo Maltese, Sara Serraiocco / Italy / 134’
The Whale
Director Darren Aronofsky
Main Cast Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Samantha Morton, Ty Simpkins / USA / 117’
White Noise
Director Noah Baumbach
Main Cast Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, Jodie Turner-Smith, André L. Benjamin and Lars Eidinger / USA / 136’
L’IMMENSITÀ
Director Emanuele Crialese
Main Cast Penélope Cruz, Luana Giuliani, Vincenzo Amato, Patrizio Francioni / Italy, France / 97’
Saint Omer
Director Alice Diop
Main Cast Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Valérie Dréville, Aurélia Petit / France / 123’
Blonde
Director Andrew Dominik
Main Cast Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, Julianne Nicholson, Lily Fisher / USA / 166’
TÁR
Director Todd Field
Main Cast Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, Mark Strong / USA / 158’
Love Life
Director Kôji Fukada
Main Cast Fumino Kimura, Kento Nagayama, Atom Sunada / Japan, France / 123’
Bardo, Falsa CRÓNICA De Unas Cuantas Verdades
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Main Cast Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani, Ximena Lamadrid, Iker Sanchez Solano, Andrés Almeida, Francisco Rubio / Mexico / 174’
Athena
Director Romain Gavras
Main Cast Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, Alexis Manenti / France / 97’
Bones And All
Director Luca Guadagnino
Main Cast Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, Jessica Harper, David Gordon Green, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jake Horowitz / USA / 130’
The Eternal Daughter
Director Joanna Hogg
Main Cast Tilda Swinton, Joseph Mydell, Carly-Sophia Davies / UK, USA / 96’
Shab, Dakheli, Divar (Beyond The Wall)
Director Vahid Jalilvand
Main Cast Navid Mohammadzadeh, Diana Habibi, Amir Aghaee / Iran / 126’
The Banshees Of Inisherin
Director Martin McDonagh
Main Cast Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan / Ireland, UK, USA / 109’
Argentina, 1985
Director Santiago Mitre
Main Cast Ricardo Darín, Peter Lanzani, Alejandra Flechner, Norman Briski / Argentina, USA / 140’
Chiara
Director Susanna Nicchiarelli
Main Cast Margherita Mazzucco, Andrea Carpenzano, Carlotta Natoli, Paola Tiziana Cruciani, Luigi Lo Cascio / Italy, Belgium / 106’
Monica
Director Andrea Pallaoro
Main Cast Trace Lysette, Patricia Clarkson, Adriana Barraza, Emily Browning, Joshua Close / USA, Italy / 113’
Khers Nist (No Bears)
Director Jafar Panahi
Main Cast Jafar Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjeei, Mina Kavani, Reza Heydari / Iran / 107’
All The Beauty And The Bloodshed
Director Laura Poitras
USA / 117’
Un Couple
Director Frederick Wiseman
Main Cast Nathalie Boutefeu / France, USA / 64’
The Son
Director Florian Zeller
Main Cast Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins, Hugh Quarshie / UK / 124’
Les Miens
Director Roschdy Zem
Main Cast Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem, Meriem Serbah, Maïwenn, Rachid Bouchareb, Abel Jafrei, Nina Zem / France / 85’
Les Enfants Des Autres
Director Rebecca Zlotowski
Main Cast Virginie Efira, Roschdy Zem, Chiara Mastroianni, Callie Ferreira / France / 104’
Toronto is in spite of itself in a civilized sort of way in competition for the premieres with Venice, though the sequential festivals are serving different constituencies. Still, The Whale, for example is premiering in Venice and then traveling to TIFF.
TIFF Gala Presentations:
The Whale directed by Darren Aronofsky, produced and to be distributed in U.S. and actng as international sales agent A24.
TIFF says: “Brendan Fraser gives a career-defining performance in Darren Aronofsky’s arrestingly intimate drama about a reclusive English professor struggling with personal relationships and self-acceptance, adapted from the stage play by Samuel D. Hunter.”
Alice, Darling by Mary Nighy
Also playing are Alice, Darling (Mary Nighy) in which Anna Kendrick captures the anxious psychology of a woman in an abusive relationship as her friends try to reconnect with her while on a cottage getaway.
Black Ice(Hubert Davis) about Black hockey players facing systemic racism in the sport.
The Greatest Beer Run Ever (Peter Farrelly) about man’s story of leaving New York in 1967 to bring beer to his childhood buddies in the Army while they are fighting in Vietnam. An Apple TV+ production.
Butcher’s Crossing (Gabe Polsky) is a frontier epic about an Ivy League drop-out as he travels to the Colorado wilderness, where he joins a team of buffalo hunters on a journey that puts his life and sanity at risk. Based on the highly acclaimed novel by John Williams. Isa Altitude
The Hummingbird (Francesca Archibugi)Hunt (Jung-jae Lee)A Jazzman’s Blues (Tyler Perry)Kacchey Limbu (Shubham Yogi)Moving On (Paul Weitz)Paris Memories (Alice Winocour)Prisoner’s Daughter (Catherine Hardwicke)Raymond & Ray (Rodrigo García)Roost (Amy Redford)Sidney (Reginald Hudlin)The Son (Florian Zeller)The Swimmers (Sally El Hosaini)What’s Love Got to Do With It? (Shekhar Kapur)The Woman King(Gina Prince-Bythewood)
Special PRESENTATIONSAllelujah (Sir Richard Eyre)All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward Berger)The Banshees Of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)Blueback (Robert Connolly)The Blue Caftan (Maryam Touzani)Broker (Hirokazu Kore-eda)Brother (Clement Virgo)Bros (Nicholas Stoller)Catherine Called Birdy (Lena Dunham)Causeway (Lila Neugebauer)Chevalier (Stephen Williams)Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook)Devotion (Jd Dillard)Driving (Madeleine Christian Carion)El Suplente (Diego Lerman)Empire of Light...
- 9/10/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Click here to read the full article.
Jafar Panahi has spent much time in and out of prison or under house arrest in Iran since 2010 on inflated charges including collusion, propaganda and threatening national security, slapped with a 20-year ban on filmmaking and all non-medical or religious international travel. Over those last 12 years, the elder-statesman auteur has never renounced his right to artistic expression, continuing to make docu-fiction hybrid films with crafty resourcefulness and oblique political and social commentary.
In July, Panahi was again arrested, this time slated to serve an earlier six-year prison sentence that was never enforced, as part of a broader crackdown on independent Iranian cinema. This has sparked outraged condemnation from across the global film community. That incendiary situation inevitably gives his latest work, No Bears (Khers Nist), heightened impact.
But this artful telling of parallel narratives that intersect with Panahi facing the cost to himself...
Jafar Panahi has spent much time in and out of prison or under house arrest in Iran since 2010 on inflated charges including collusion, propaganda and threatening national security, slapped with a 20-year ban on filmmaking and all non-medical or religious international travel. Over those last 12 years, the elder-statesman auteur has never renounced his right to artistic expression, continuing to make docu-fiction hybrid films with crafty resourcefulness and oblique political and social commentary.
In July, Panahi was again arrested, this time slated to serve an earlier six-year prison sentence that was never enforced, as part of a broader crackdown on independent Iranian cinema. This has sparked outraged condemnation from across the global film community. That incendiary situation inevitably gives his latest work, No Bears (Khers Nist), heightened impact.
But this artful telling of parallel narratives that intersect with Panahi facing the cost to himself...
- 9/9/2022
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
There was an empty seat beside the name ‘J Panahi’ at the Venice Film Festival press conference for “No Bears.” The arthouse darling, famed for finding ingenious ways around draconian Iranian laws (“This Is Not a Film” was smuggled out of the country on a Usb stick buried in a cake posted from Iran to Paris), was detained in August to serve a deferred six-year sentence, amid a government crackdown that saw directors Mohammad Rasoulef and Mostafa Aleahmad locked-up too. In this sobering context, the harassment that Panahi-playing Panahi experiences in his lands all the more sickeningly and gestures to details that we are probably yet to discover.
Panahi is a director who has always mingled fact and fiction, and here the distinction is more addled than ever, so that by the time the final credits roll it’s not exactly clear what was staged and what was real. One...
Panahi is a director who has always mingled fact and fiction, and here the distinction is more addled than ever, so that by the time the final credits roll it’s not exactly clear what was staged and what was real. One...
- 9/9/2022
- by Sophie Monks Kaufman
- Indiewire
When the definitive book on dissident filmmaking is written, it will have at least several chapters and a lengthy appendix dedicated to Iran’s Jafar Panahi, who has now covertly made five astonishingly resourceful features since being banned from filmmaking by the Iranian authorities in 2010. But given those circumstances, perhaps the biggest ongoing surprise of his career has been just how lively his illegally shot films have been — even while, as metafictions, they refer continually to the hampered circumstances of their creation.
“No Bears,” which premieres in competition in Venice, certainly starts in that register, with a rugpull or two and handful of seriocomic, absurdist observations on the foibles of Iranian village life. But then, as though it were anticipating the worsening political situation which culminated in Panahi’s detention in July 2022 for a six-year prison sentence, the mood darkens, prior to an ambiguous but devastating finale which seems to...
“No Bears,” which premieres in competition in Venice, certainly starts in that register, with a rugpull or two and handful of seriocomic, absurdist observations on the foibles of Iranian village life. But then, as though it were anticipating the worsening political situation which culminated in Panahi’s detention in July 2022 for a six-year prison sentence, the mood darkens, prior to an ambiguous but devastating finale which seems to...
- 9/9/2022
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
"Did you go to the border last night?" Celluloid Dreams has unveiled an official trailer for the latest Jafar Panahi film titled No Bears, which is premiering soon. Unfortunately Panahi was recently arrested by the Iranian government after he went to check on his friend, another filmmaker also imprisoned under dubious claims. No Bears is premiering at the Venice Film Festival, TIFF, and New York Film Festival back-to-back. "Panahi continues to push against the boundaries of the medium with his latest film, involving two parallel love stories and the dire consequences that can bubble up out of seemingly insignificant artistic pursuits." It's obvious from this trailer that the film also acts as meta commentary on his own situation, unable to cross the line. "He feels trapped, with no future, no freedom, and no job." The cast includes Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiyar Panjei, Mina Kavani, and Reza Heydari. Get your first look.
- 8/18/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
A radically defiant artist, Iranian director Jafar Panahi has been making some of the most vital––both artistically and politically––works of the last three decades. Recently jailed for six years due to support of anti-government protests, the filmmaker has also completed a new feature. No Bears, set to play at Venice, TIFF, and NYFF while seeking U.S. distribution, follows two parallel stories of love. In both the lovers are troubled by hidden (but inevitable) obstacles, the force of superstition, and the mechanics of power. Starring Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiyar Panjei, Mina Kavani and Reza Heydari, the first trailer has now arrived.
“One of the world’s great cinematic artists, Jafar Panahi has been carefully crafting self-reflexive works about artistic, personal, and political freedom for the past three decades, and his risk-taking output has never slowed down even amidst his globally condemned treatment by the Iranian government,...
“One of the world’s great cinematic artists, Jafar Panahi has been carefully crafting self-reflexive works about artistic, personal, and political freedom for the past three decades, and his risk-taking output has never slowed down even amidst his globally condemned treatment by the Iranian government,...
- 8/18/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The international trailer has been debuted for Jafar Panahi’s “No Bears,” which has its world premiere on Sept. 9 in competition at Venice Film Festival, before moving to Toronto Film Festival and New York Film Festival. Celluloid Dreams, which is handling world sales, has revealed territory deals with several distributors. Last month, Panahi was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment by the Iranian judiciary.
The political thriller/drama portrays two parallel stories of love. In both, the lovers are troubled by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition and the mechanics of power.
Celluloid Dreams has closed deals with the following distributors: Picturehouse Entertainment (U.K.), Arp Selection (France), Academy Two (Italy), La Aventura (Spain), Golden Scene (Hong Kong/Macau), Impact Films (India), Midas Filmes (Portugal), Panda Film (Austria), September Films (Benelux), and Pt Falcon (Indonesia).
The cast includes Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiyar Panjei, Mina Kavani and Reza Heydari.
The political thriller/drama portrays two parallel stories of love. In both, the lovers are troubled by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition and the mechanics of power.
Celluloid Dreams has closed deals with the following distributors: Picturehouse Entertainment (U.K.), Arp Selection (France), Academy Two (Italy), La Aventura (Spain), Golden Scene (Hong Kong/Macau), Impact Films (India), Midas Filmes (Portugal), Panda Film (Austria), September Films (Benelux), and Pt Falcon (Indonesia).
The cast includes Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiyar Panjei, Mina Kavani and Reza Heydari.
- 8/17/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The 79th Venice International Film Festival has just announced the line-up for the next edition. The 79th Venice International Film Festival is organised by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera. It will take place at Venice Lido from 31 August to 10 September 2022. The Festival is officially recognised by the Fiapf (International Federation of Film Producers Association).
The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote international cinema in all its forms as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. The Festival also organises retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution towards a better understanding of the history of cinema.
Here are all the Asian Titles on the Programme:
Competition:
Love Life
Director Koji Fukada
Main Cast Fumino Kimura, Kento Nagayama, Atom Sunada / Japan, France / 123’
Shab, Dakheli, Divar (Beyond The Wall)
Director Vahid Jalilvand
Main Cast Navid Mohammadzadeh, Diana Habibi,...
The aim of the Festival is to raise awareness and promote international cinema in all its forms as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue. The Festival also organises retrospectives and tributes to major figures as a contribution towards a better understanding of the history of cinema.
Here are all the Asian Titles on the Programme:
Competition:
Love Life
Director Koji Fukada
Main Cast Fumino Kimura, Kento Nagayama, Atom Sunada / Japan, France / 123’
Shab, Dakheli, Divar (Beyond The Wall)
Director Vahid Jalilvand
Main Cast Navid Mohammadzadeh, Diana Habibi,...
- 7/26/2022
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
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