This Is Not A Film
An Experiment by Jafar
Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
Iran
When the
2009 protests across Tehran failed to overthrow the political dictatorship that
had dominated Iran for over 40 years, there were of course repercussions to be
made, especially in the liberal filmmaking community. Abbas Kiarostami has all
but fled his native country, now making films outside of his state. Mohsen
Makhmalbaf abandoned filmmaking to become a full time revolutionary. And Jafar
Panahi, perhaps the most political filmmaker of the country, was banned from
being a filmmaker for 20 years.
And thus,
Mr. Panahi, along with a conspirator, the documentarian Mojtaba Mirtahmasb,
have made a fascinating experiment in what they consider non-cinema. Or is it?
That’s the point of This Is Not A Film,
a direct allegory of cinema as political statement. Its mere existence might
lead to Mr. Panahi’s immediate arrest, but it is a bold work that questions not
only the absurdity of the politics of Iran, but the nature of what defines
film.
