THIS IS NOT A FILM (2011) – Retroview by Jennifer Merin
Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi shot This Is Not A Film in his Tehran apartment, while he was under house arrest in Tehran, and banned by the government from making movies. Although he could have been put back in jail at any time, he defied his sentence by making This Is Not A Film, using digital cameras, including an iPhone, to document his daily life. We see him eating breakfast, talking to his lawyer and his wife on the phone, and taking care of the family’s pet iguana. And, remarking that he is not breaking the law and his personal restrictions by reading his film, he asks his colleague, filmmaker Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, to record him as he reads the screenplay, describing what the action would be. Continue reading on CINEMA CITIZEN.