| This Is Not a Film | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jafar Panahi Mojtaba Mirtahmasb |
| Produced by | Jafar Panahi |
| Starring | Jafar Panahi Mojtaba Mirtahmasb |
| Cinematography | Jafar Panahi Mojtaba Mirtahmasb |
| Editing by | Jafar Panahi |
| Distributed by | Kanibal Films Distribution (France) |
| Release date(s) | May 20, 2011 (Cannes) |
| Running time | 75 minutes |
| Country | Iran |
| Language | Persian |
This Is Not a Film (Persian: In film nist) is an Iranian documentary film by Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb. It was released on 28 September 2011 in France, distributed by Kanibal Films Distribution.[1] The film was smuggled from Iran to Cannes in a Flash-Drive hidden inside a birthday cake. It was specially screened at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. It took also part in the International Competition of the 27. Warsaw International Film Festival.
Panahi is under house arrest, awaiting the result of his appeal of a six year prison sentence and twenty year ban on film-making, leaving the country or giving media interviews for "propaganda against the regime". Bored and desperate that this verdict may mean his artistic death, he starts documenting his life. He begins filming himself in his apartment, then calls his friend and collaborator, Mirtahmasb, who arrives at the apartment and takes over the camera. Banned from film making and determined to save at least some of his artistic visions, Panahi reads some of the scenario from the movie he was planning to make. Upon hearing fireworks marking the anient Iranian festival Chaharshambe Suri that precedes the Persian new year, Nouruz, and other suspicious noices resembling shots, he gets scarred and quickly stops this project. He turns on the TV to hear the news. We see news about the tsunami in Japan and later it is announced that Iran's president has banned any fireworks and bonfires that used to mark Chaharshambe Suri.
After Mr. Mirtahmasb's departure, Panahi takes his friend's camera and starts chatting with the boy who collects the litter in the apartment block, asking him questions about his life and plans for the future. This conversation takes places in the claustrophobic scenery of a lift, as the boy goes down from floor to floor and ever so often gets out of the lift to do his job.
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