Filmfest 3,14 presenterer regissør Jafa Pahanis No bears

Time: Friday 26. April, 21.30

Place: Cinemateket i Bergen, USF

Language: Persian, Azerbaijani, Turkish

Subtitles: English

Duration: 1h 47 min

No Bears is a drama written, directed and produced by Jafar Panahi. The film was shot secretly in Iran and stars Panahi as a fictionalized version of himself, along with Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobasri, Bakhtiar Panjei and Mina Kavani.

Prohibited by the government from making films and from leaving Iran, because of his politically critical movies, Panahi has rented a room at the village of Jaban, near Turkey’s border, where he is remotely directing a docudrama about an Iranian couple, Bakhtiar and Zara, who are attempting to secure fake passports so they can flee the country after years of government abuse.

While directing the movie, Panahi also get’s caught up in a village drama regarding photos that he may or may not have taken of a local bride to be.

No Bears premiered at the 79th Venice Film Festival in competition for the Golden Lion, without the presence of the director, who had been arrested and sentenced to 6 years prison in Iran, prior to the film’s release. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival in September 2022, and has received generally positive reviews from critics.

Trailer