When Jafar Panahi dances with the bears and gives a masterpiece

What we haven’t said enough about No bearsthe admirable film whose author, Jafar Panahi, is imprisoned, incommunicado, in the terrible prison of Evin, in Teheran, it is this. Voices from Iran. His language. His musicality. Its hissing softness which suddenly amplifies into emphatic and heady vowels. His song. Its weak inflections. Its slow cadences. Persian. … Read more

Venice Film Festival pays a long round of applause to director Panahi, imprisoned in Iran

VENICE Today is the day of the last screenings and the awards ceremony of the 79th Venice International Film Festival. Meanwhile, yesterday, the film in competition by the Iranian director Jafar Panahi, already awarded the Golden Lion in 2000, entitled Khers nist (No bears). Unfortunately the director is not present because he was arrested in … Read more