This Is Not A Film (Jafar Panahi, Cannes 2011) / این فیلم نیست
International Campaign in Support of Jafar Panahi www.facebook.com Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi’s “This Is Not A Film” premiered at Cannes on Thursday after being smuggled out of the Islamic republic where the dissident has been sentenced to six years in jail. The film, “In Film Nist” in Farsi and screening out of competition, depicts a day in Panahi’s life as he waits to hear the appeal’s verdict on his jail sentence, as well as a 20-year film-making ban and a travel ban. An Iranian court in December handed Panahi, 50, the sentence after he was convicted of “propaganda against the system” for making a film about unrest after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009. Fellow Iranian Mohammad Rasoulof, whose “Be Omid e Didar” (“Goodbye”) is being shown in the festival’s Un Certain Regard section, received the same sentence but he arrived in Cannes Tuesday after his travel ban was lifted. “This Is Not A Film” begins with what sounds like distant sporadic gunfire ringing out, followed by sirens. But, just as this is not a film, it transpires that the gunfire is in fact fireworks during a traditional fire festival. But again, things are not what they seem. The festival is often seized on as an opportunity to protest — implicitly or explicitly — against the government, and some kind of protest going on is hinted at during the film. This year, the festival fell on the night of March 15, the day during which Panahi’s film was shot. Panahi …
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