“Panahi’s courageousness as an agitator is matched only by his inventiveness as a filmmaker.” - Cinevue
The latest film from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi (Taxi), No Bears was filmed secretly in Iran and premiered at the Venice Film Festival in competition for the Golden Lion. The film would go on to win the Special Jury Prize, although without the presence of the director, who had been arrested and sentenced to 6 years prison in Iran prior to the film's release.
The film follows two parallel love stories in which the partners are thwarted by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition, and the mechanics of power.
Relying on his assistant director, who visits him nightly to deliver a hard drive full of footage, and a crew on the other side of the Iranian border in Turkey, Panahi, playing himself in the film, reflects on his inability to leave his country and the potential repercussions for people who participate in his work.