jafar panahi – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT (Cannes FF 2025) – Review by Diane Carson

May 29, 2025February 1, 2026 Diane Carson A Simple Accident, Cannes FF 2025, iranian films, It Was Just an Accident, jafar panahi, palme d'or

The Iranian title alone, It Was Just an Accident, suggests that dire consequences will surely follow in the wake of an innocent incident. That writer/director Jafar Panahi included details of the brutal treatment he learned about from prisoners during his own detention in Iranian prisons means the film’s impact is as frightening as it is real. As Panahi said at his Cannes Film Festival press conference, “It’s the Islamic Republic of Iran that made this film.” He added that he listened to many stories of inhumane treatment. Once on the set shooting, Panahi ensured authenticity with other ex-prisoners on hand for corroboration.

Festivals Reviews

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE (Melbourne IFF 2024) – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

August 26, 2024August 26, 2024 Alexandra Heller-Nicholas abbas kiarostami, Iranian cinema, jafar panahi, Matthew Rankin, Melbourne IFF 2024, Universal Language

Universal Language is a deeply personal film while – as its title indicates – having much broader appeal. Playing a barely disguised version of himself as a filmmaker returning home, Matthew Rankin himself is very much the heart of the film, and through his stand-in teases out everything from his complex emotional relationship with Winnipeg to his long-held affection for Iranian cinema. Wholly original and brought to life with an overwhelming sense of charm and sincerity, Universal Language is a film like no other.

Reviews

NO BEARS – Review by Diane Carson

January 27, 2023January 29, 2023 Diane Carson iranian films, jafar panahi, No Bears

Confined to house arrest over the last decade, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi continued creating unsanctioned, humanistic cinema. In that regard, Panahi’s latest, multilayered film, No Bears, again proves his truly imaginative, complex, at times even playful interrogation of tradition versus progress, freedom versus oppression, rumor versus evidence. The central character is Panahi himself playing a barely fictionalized role, a director who retreats from Tehran to the village of Joban near the border with Turkey.

Reviews

CRIMSON GOLD – Review by Diane Carson

June 16, 2021June 19, 2021 Diane Carson abbas kiarostami, Crimson Gold, Hussein Embadeddin, iranian films, jafar panahi

An ideal partnership is realized in Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s Crimson Gold, written by his Iranian film mentor and friend, Abbas Kiarostami. Though Iran regularly bans both men’s work and, upon occasion, detains them, Panahi and Kiarostami continue to make astonishing films, this one shrewdly critiquing social inequity through a pizza delivery man’s experiences over two days.

Reviews

NASRIN – Review by Loren King

December 18, 2020December 19, 2020 Loren King Ann Curry, docmentaries, iranian films, jafar panahi, Jeff Kaufman, Mansoureh Shojaee, Nasrin Sotoudeh

This urgent documentary offers an up-close look at Iranian human rights lawyer and activist Nasrin Sotoudeh who for nearly 20 years, at great personal risk, has fought for the rights of women, children, LGBTQ people and political prisoners condemned to death by the Iranian government. For anyone not familiar with this ordinary yet extraordinary figure, Nasrin will be an eye-opening and life-changing experience.

Movie of the Week Reviews

MOVIE OF THE WEEK March 8, 2019: 3 FACES

March 3, 2019March 8, 2019 Jennifer Merin 0 Comments 3 Faces, Behnaz Jafari, betsy bozdech, jafar panahi, Marilyn Ferdinand., marina antunes, maryann johanson, Marziyeh Rezaei, Sheila Roberts

The life of an actress isn’t always an easy one — even more so in a country like Iran, where traditional currents run strong and “following your dreams” isn’t so simple for any woman, let alone a woman who wants to take to the stage. In his latest uniquely crafted film, Jafar Panahi again defies the Iranian government’s ban on his film production to explore themes of dreams vs family and social obligations. 3 Faces, a compelling drama about craft and connection.

Reviews

3 FACES – Review by Marilyn Ferdinand

February 28, 2019March 3, 2019 Marilyn Ferdinand (Archived Contributor) 0 Comments 3 Faces, Behnaz Jafari, iranian film, jafar panahi, Marziyeh Rezaei, motw, Movie of the Week, Shahrzad

Since the Iranian government imposed a 20-year filmmaking ban on Jafar Panahi in 2010, the scrappy director has made and smuggled out four films, including his latest, 3 Faces. The irrepressible Panahi is critical of Iran’s repressions against women and continues to plead for their freedom in this farcical, subversive film.

Reviews

THIS IS NOT A FILM (2011) – Retroview by Jennifer Merin

February 28, 2019March 1, 2019 Jennifer Merin 0 Comments documentary, iranian film, jafar panahi, this is not a film

Jafar Panahi Panahi shot This Is Not A Film in his Tehran apartment, while he was under house arrest. Although he could be 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.

Reviews

3 FACES – Review by Jennifer Merin

February 27, 2019March 4, 2019 Jennifer Merin 0 Comments 3 Faces, Behnaz Jafari, iranian film, jafar panahi, motw, Movie of the Week

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been banned by the Iranian government from making movies for 20 years, yet he always invents creative ways to practice his craft by documenting his own interactions with actors and ‘civilians.’ In 3 Faces Panahi and actress Behnaz Jafari take to the road to try too solve a mystery about what happened to a young woman who wanted to escape her traditional family to become an actress. The plot twists itself into an intriguing mystery about weather the girl is alive or dead.

General Archives Reviews Women on Film

THIS IS NOT A FILM – Review by Jennifer Merin

March 10, 2012 Jennifer Merin 0 Comments awfj women on film, documentaries, iran, jafar panahi, jennifer merin, this is not a film

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, an internationally acclaimed director of narrative features, makes this not-a-film to show what his life has