Jafar Panahi | |
|---|---|
جعفر پناهی | |
 Panahi at the2025 Cannes Film Festival | |
| Born | (1960-07-11)11 July 1960 (age 65) |
| Alma mater | Iran Broadcasting College of Cinema and TV |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Known for | The White Balloon The Circle This Is Not a Film Taxi It Was Just an Accident |
| Style | Neorealism |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2, includingPanah |
| Awards | Golden Leopard (1997) Golden Lion (2000) Sakharov Prize (2012) Golden Bear (2015) Palme d'Or (2025) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | Iran |
| Branch | Army |
| Service years | 1980–1982 |
| Conflicts | |
Jafar Panâhi (Persian:جعفر پناهی,[d͡ʒæˈfæɾpænɒːˈhiː]) (born 11 July 1960) is an Iranian filmmaker and actor. He is known internationally for his artistically significant contributions to post-1979 RevolutionIranian cinema and has been associated with theIranian New Wave. His work, deeply rooted in neorealism and centered on the lives of women, children, and the marginalized, constitutes a powerful critical portrait of the social, political, and gender structures of contemporaryIran.
Panahi began his career making short films and working as an assistant toAbbas Kiarostami. His debut feature,The White Balloon (1995), won theCaméra d'Or at the1995 Cannes Film Festival, marking the first major award for an Iranian film at that event. Panahi is one of only four directors in history—alongsideHenri-Georges Clouzot,Michelangelo Antonioni andRobert Altman[1]—to win thetop prizes at Europe's three major film festivals: thePalme d'Or atCannes, theGolden Bear atBerlin, and theGolden Lion atVenice, awarded respectively forIt Was Just an Accident (2025),Taxi (2015), andThe Circle (2000). Among numerous accolades, he is the recipient ofTelluride Film Festival Silver Medallion and nominations for twoGolden Globe Awards and anAcademy Award.
Panahi's career has been inextricably marked by conflict withIranian authorities. Starting with his third feature film,The Circle (2000), which addresses the situation of women in Iran, his films have frequently been banned or censored in the country. In 2010, the filmmaker was sentenced to six years in prison and a 20-year ban on filmmaking activities, based on charges of "propaganda against the Islamic Republic."[2] Even under legal restrictions, Panahi continued to make films without permission, many of them produced semi-clandestinely.This Is Not a Film (2011),Closed Curtain (2013),Taxi (2015), andNo Bears (2022) are works that often reflect, in ametacinematic way, on his own limitations as an artist under state surveillance. His legal confrontations remain ongoing, with new sentences such as thein absentia prison term decreed in 2025.
In addition to his filmmaking, Panahi was awarded theSakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by theEuropean Parliament in 2012, in recognition of his defense offreedom of expression.
Jafar Panahi was born inMianeh, Iran, to anIranian Azerbaijani family,[3][4][5][6] which he has described as working-class.[7] He grew up with four sisters and two brothers.[8] His father worked as a house painter. His family spokeAzerbaijani at home, butPersian with other Iranians.[9] When he was ten years old he used an8 mm film camera. He also acted in one film and assistedKanoon's library director in running a program that taught children how to operate a film camera.[9]
Starting at age 12, Panahi worked after school in order to afford to go and see films. His impoverished childhood helped form the humanistic worldview of his films.[10]
At age 20, Panahi wasconscripted into theIranian Army and served in theIran–Iraq War, working as an armycinematographer from 1980 to 1982.[11] In 1981, he was captured byKurdish rebels and held for 76 days.[9]
From his war experiences, he made a documentary that was eventually shown on TV. After completing his military service, Panahi enrolled at theCollege of Cinema and TV inTehran, where he studied filmmaking and especially appreciated the works ofAlfred Hitchcock,Howard Hawks,Luis Buñuel, andJean-Luc Godard.[9] There he first met and befriended filmmakerParviz Shahbazi and cinematographer Farzad Jodat, who shot all of Panahi's early work. During college he interned at theBandar Abbas Center on the Persian Gulf Coast, where he made his first short documentary films.[12] He also began working as an assistant director on his professor's films before graduating in 1988.[13][14][15]
Panahi made several short documentary films for Iranian television through theIslamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting'sChannel 2. His first short film,The Wounded Heads (Yarali Bashlar),[when?] was a documentary about the illegal mourning tradition ofhead slashing in theAzerbaijan region of northern Iran. The film documents a mourning ceremony for the third Shi'ite Imam, Imam Hossein, in which people hit their heads with knives until they bled. Panahi had to shoot in secret and the film was banned for several years. In 1988 Panahi filmedThe Second Look (Negah-e Dovvom), a behind-the-scenes documentary short on the making of Kambuzia Partovi's filmGolnar. It focuses on the puppet maker for Partovi's film and his relationship with his puppets.[16][17] It was not released until 1993.[12] In 1990 he worked as an assistant director on Partovi's filmThe Fish (1991).[citation needed]
In 1992 Panahi made his first narrative short film,The Friend (Doust), an homage to Kiarostami's first short film,The Bread and Alley.[18] That same year Panahi made his second narrative short,The Final Exam (Akharin Emtehan). Both films starred non-professional actors Ali Azizollahi and Mehdi Shahabi and won awards for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing at Iran's National TV Festival that year.[14] Inspired by a story of a young Luis Buñuel once contacting successful film directorJean Epstein to ask for a job in filmmaking, Panahi left a message on Kiarostami's answering machine saying that he loved his films and asking for a job on his next film. Kiarostami hired Panahi as his assistant director for the filmThrough the Olive Trees.[8][9]
In 1995 Panahi made his feature film debut,The White Balloon (Badkonak-e sefid), produced by IRIB-Channel 2, Ferdos Films and the Farabi Cinema Foundation.[19] Initially titledHappy New Year, Panahi developed the original story withParviz Shahbazi and attempted to get funding from IRIB'sChannel 1 with the expectation that it would be a short film, but his proposal was rejected.[14] He then showed his originaltreatment for the film to Kiarostami during the shooting ofThrough the Olive Trees. Kiarostami encouraged Panahi to make the idea into a feature and agreed to write the script. During their car rides to set while shooting, Kiarostami would dictate the film's script while Panahi taped the conversation and typed the script.[9] Kiarostami also helped Panahi secure funding from IRIB's Channel 2.[8] While casting the film, Panahi traveled throughout Iran in order to include all of the diverse ethnicities of his country as characters in the film. He found lead actressAida Mohammadkhani at the first school that he visited and immediately cast her as Razieh, but auditioned 2,600 young boys for the role of Razieh's brother Ali before settling on Mohsen Kalifi.[20] He cast non-professionals in most of the supporting roles, including a real fish seller he found in the Rasht market and a college student to portray the young soldier. He also cast professional actressAnna Borkowska as an Armenian woman.[14]
In the film Razieh, a strong-willed little girl in Tehran, wants to buy a lucky goldfish for the upcomingIranian New Year celebration, but struggles to get and hold on to the 500-toman banknote needed to purchase the fish. Panahi worked closely with Mohammadkhani, gaining her trust and acting out each scene for her to mimic while still adding her own personality to the performance. Panahi was most concerned about Mohammadkhani being able to cry on cue, so he would have her stare at him off camera while he started to cry, causing her to cry.[20] Filming began in early April 1994 inKashan, Iran and continued until early June.[14] Panahi has stated that during the making of his feature debut he "wanted to prove to myself that I can do the job, that I can finish a feature film successfully and get good acting out of my players."[8] He also stated that "In a world where films are made with millions of dollars, we made a film about a little girl who wants to buy a fish for less than a dollar – this is what we're trying to show."[21] In Iran, films depicting children are the most likely to avoid censorship or political controversy, andThe White Balloon was screened exclusively in theatres that specialized in children's films. Because of this the film had low attendance on its initial run in Iranian theatres, with only 130,000 tickets sold.
It went on to win four prizes in Iran[20] at theIsfahan Film Festival for Children and Young Adults and at theFajr International Film Festival. For several years after its release, Kanoon's Channel 2 would broadcast the film every year on New Year's Day.[14] Outside of IranThe White Balloon received excellent reviews[22] and was shown at the1995 Cannes Film Festival, where it won theCamera d'Or. It also won the Golden Award of the Governor of Tokyo for Best Film and the Bronze Dragon for Best Film of Young Cinema at the 1995Tokyo International Film Festival, the International Jury Award at the 1995São Paulo International Film Festival[23] and the Best Film Award at the 1996Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival.[19] It was Iran's officialsubmission for Best Foreign Language Film at the68th Academy Awards; however, the Iranian government asked the Academy to withdraw the film afterIran's relations with the US began to deteriorate. The Academy refused to withdraw the film, which was not nominated, and Panahi was forbidden by the Iranian government to travel to theSundance Film Festival or to participate in phone interviews with US reporters to promote the film.[24]
Panahi's second feature film wasThe Mirror (Ayneh), produced by Rooz Films.[25] Initially Panahi was going to direct Kiarostami's script forWillow and Wind, but he decided to pursue his own work instead.[14] Panahi was inspired to make the film when while attending the 1996Pusan International Film Festival inSouth Korea he noticed a young girl sitting alone on a park bench staring blankly into space, and realized that he had seen this same thing countless times in Iran and never paid attention to it. He has stated that he "choose a precocious child and placed her in a situation where she is left to her own devices. Everyone she meets on her journey is wearing a mask or playing a role. I wanted to throw these masks away."[26] The film stars Mina Mohammadkhani, the sister of Aida Mohammadkhani. In the film Mohammadkhani could be said to play two characters: the role of a little girl named Baharan and then herself as the film shifts into a documentary mode. Panahi reported casting her after having detected " a feeling of emptiness within her, and a determination to prove herself to the world."[27] It received the Golden Leopard Award at theLocarno Film Festival, the Special Jury Award and Best Director Award at the 1998Singapore International Film Festival, the Golden Tulip Award at the 1998Istanbul Film Festival, theFIPRESCI Prize and the Eisenstein Magical Crystal and Cash Award at the 1998Riga International Film Festival, and Buñuel's Golden Era Award at theRoyal Archive Film Festival in Belgium.[25]
In 2000 Panahi madeThe Circle (Dayereh), produced by Jafar Panahi Film Productions and Mikado-Lumiere&Co.[28] Although Panahi claimed that he was not a political filmmaker, his third feature was a major departure from his first two works about children and is critical of the treatment of women under Iran'sIslamist regime.[29] Panahi has stated that "I started my career making children's films, and while doing that I had no problems with censors. As soon as I started making feature films, it all started and I had problems,"[30] but that "in my first films, I worked with children and young people, but I began to think of the limitations facing these girls once they grow up. In order to visualize these limitations and to have this constraint better projected visually, I went to a social class, which has more limitations to areas that are more underprivileged, so that this idea could come out ever stronger."[31] He had to wait an entire year to get an official shooting permit.[32]
The film was shot in 35 days over a 53-day period. As usual, Panahi used non-professional actors, with the exceptions ofFatemeh Naghavi andFereshteh Sadre Orafaiy. He saw the lead actress, Nargess Mamizadeh, in a park one day and immediately offered her the role. The film opens with one long, handheld shot that lasts over three minutes and took 13 attempts to achieve.[33] Panahi adopted a different camera style to depict each of the four main protagonists' lives. For the first, an idealistic woman he used a handheld camera. For the second woman, the camera is mounted on a constantly moving dolly. The third woman's story is told at night in darker outside, and the camera is static with pans and tight close-ups. For the last, least optimistic woman both the camera and the woman are completely immobile and very little sound is used.[27] Panahi submitted the film to theVenice Film Festival without getting a permit from theMinistry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.[34] At the festival it won theGolden Lion, the FIPRESCI prize, the UNICEF prize, the Ecumenical Special Mention, the Sergio Trazzati Award and Mamizadeh won the Italian Film Journalist's Award for Best Actress.[35] The Ministry of Culture and Guidance issued a permit for the film a few days before its screening at the festival, although they already knew that it had been submitted illegally. The Ministry later banned the film in Iran. Panahi was worried that the Ministry would "confiscate and mutilate" all copies of the film, so he made multiple copies and hid them all over Iran.[36] Irans's Cinema Deputy Mohammad-Hassan Pezeshk said thatThe Circle was banned because it had "such a completely dark and humiliating perspective."[37] It was later withdrawn by Iranian authorities from the Fajr International Film Festival for being "offensive to Muslim women".[32]
The film went on to win the FIPRESCI Film of the Year Award at theSan Sebastián International Film Festival,[38] appeared on Top 10 lists of critics worldwide[39] and won the Best Film Award at theMontevideo International Film Festival and the Freedom of Expression Award from theNational Board of Review.[35]
When people like me do these things, we know what position we are in. We are recognized around the world and so [the authorities] cannot pressure us too much. If something happens to us, it will be reported everywhere and even here [in Iran]. We have to risk pushing the limits for those kids who are just starting off. Those who are making their first films are forced to do whatever they are told; they allow the censors to mutilate their films. If we do not stand up to the censors the conditions will be worse for the young filmmakers. This would mean that this cinema would not continue; it would be suppressed and end with the few people who make films now. A cinema can survive if it has new filmmakers and makes new films. If we don't resist, the path will be blocked for the new filmmaker and therefore in the eyes of the next generation we will be responsible. There is no other way.
Panahi directedCrimson Gold (Talāye sorkh) in 2003, produced by Jafar Panahi Productions.[40] The film depicts an impoverished pizza delivery man's failed attempt to rob a jewelry store and the events that drove him to his crime. The story is based on real events that Panahi first heard about when Kiarostami told him the story while they were stuck in a traffic jam on their way to one of Kiarostami's photographic exhibits. Panahi was extremely moved by the story and Kiarostami agreed to write the script for him to direct.[41][42] Panahi submitted the film to theCannes Film Festival without being granted a permit from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.[34] Panahi had applied for the permit but the Ministry demanded several cuts be made to the film. Panahi refused and submitted the film anyway.[36] At the festival it won theUn Certain Regard Jury Award. It later won the Golden Hugo Award for Best Film at theChicago International Film Festival.[43] LikeThe Circle,Crimson Gold was banned in Iran.[32]
In 2006 Panahi madeOffside (Afsaid). In the film, a group of young Iranian girls disguise themselves as boys to sneak intoAzadi Stadium to watch theWorld Cup qualifyingfootball playoff game between Iran andBahrain. The film was partially shot during the actual game it depicts.[44] Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution women have been banned from attending football matches in Iran on grounds of rowdy and aggressive language, lewd behavior, and seeing men in shorts and short sleeve shirts. At one pointMahmoud Ahmadinejad had wanted to repeal the law but was overruled by the ulema.[45] Panahi has stated "I use the football game as a metaphor to show the discrimination against women on a larger scale. All my movies have that topic at their center. This is what I am trying to change in Iranian society."[46] The film was inspired by an incident several years earlier when Panahi's daughter was refused entry to a football stadium but ended up sneaking into the stadium anyway.[44][47]
Knowing that the film would be controversial, Panahi and his crew submitted a fake script about some young men who go to a football match to Iranian authorities in order to get permission to make the film. However, before they began shooting theMinistry of Guidance, which issues licenses for films to be shown publicly, told Panahi in advance that because of his past films they would not issueOffside a license until he re-edited his previous films. Not wanting to miss the World Cup tournament, Panahi ignored the Ministry and began shooting the film. As usual, Panahi cast non-professional actors for the film, and the group of young girls in the lead roles were mostly university students that Panahi found through friends who all were passionate fans of football.[45] The film was shot in 39 days and in order to move unnoticed through large crowds Panahi used digital video for the first time so as to have a smaller, more inconspicuous camera. Panahi also officially listed his Assistant Director as the Director of the film so as not to attract the attention of the Ministry of Guidance or the Disciplinary Forces of Tehran, but towards the end of the film's shooting a newspaper article about the making of the film listed Panahi as the director and both organizations attempted to shut the film down and confiscate the footage. Only a sequence that takes place on a bus remained to be filmed so Panahi was able to continue filming without being caught.[48]
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The film premiered in competition at the 2006Berlin Film Festival, where Panahi was awarded with theSilver Bear Jury Grand Prix. LikeThe Circle andCrimson Gold before it,Offside was banned from being shown in Iran.[46] Panahi had already set up distribution for the film all over Iran and the film was predicted to break all box office records.[48] Two days after being banned and twenty days before the World Cup championship game, unlicensed DVD copies of the film became available all over Iran.[49] Panahi has stated that of his filmsOffside is "probably the one that people have seen the most" in Iran.[48] After the film's release a feminist protest group in Iran called the White Scarf Girls began showing up at football matches carrying banners that read: "We don't want to be Offside".[48]Sony Pictures Classics, the film's U.S. distributor, wrote a letter to the Ministry of Guidance in Iran requesting that the film be shown for at least one week in its home country so that they could launch a campaign to nominate the film for Best Foreign Language Film, but the Ministry refused.[48]
Amid the controversy and his appeal against the six-year prison sentence and 20-year filmmaking ban imposed by the Islamic Revolutionary Court, Panahi defied the judicial order and, in 2011, made the documentary featureThis Is Not a Film (In film nist) in collaboration with Iranian filmmakerMojtaba Mirtahmasb. The film was made for €3,200 and shot on a digital camcorder and aniPhone. It was shot in four days over a ten-day period in March 2011 and its title was inspired byRené Magritte's paintingThe Treachery of Images. In the film Panahi sits in his apartment making phone calls about his court case, watching TV news stories, interacting with his neighbors, talking about his past films and describing scenes from the film that he had begun shooting when he was arrested (much as he had described scenes from films to his sisters as a child). Ten days before the opening of the2011 Cannes Film Festival,This Is Not a Film was announced as a surprise entry into the festival. It was smuggled out of Iran on a USB thumb drive; many references to the film repeat a story of the drive in turn being hidden in a cake, but Panahi has confirmed this is untrue ("I have no idea who invented the story of the cake and for what purpose.").[50] Panahi's wife and daughter attended the festival.[51] In December 2012 it was shortlisted as one of 15 films eligible forBest Documentary Feature at the85th Academy Awards.[52]
In October 2012 Kiarostami told a journalist that Panahi had completed a new film that he predicted would be screened in film festivals.[53] In January 2013 theBerlin Film Festival announced that it would premiereClosed Curtain (Pardeh) at its2013 festival. This film was co-directed by Panahi and Kambozia Partovi, who both appear in it along with cast membersMaryam Moqadam and Hadi Saeedi.[54][55] Berlin Film Festival directorDieter Kosslick is a longtime supporter of Panahi and said that he "asked the Iranian government, the president and the culture minister, to allow Jafar Panahi to attend the world premiere of his film at the Berlinale."[56] In the film Partovi and Moqadam star as two people wanted by the police who hide out in a house on the Caspian Sea and always keep the curtains closed to avoid detection.[57] The film was shown in competition at the 63rd Berlinale in February 2013. Panahi won the Silver Bear for Best Script.[58]
In January 2015 it was announced that Panahi's filmTaxi was scheduled to premiere in competition at the65th Berlin International Film Festival.[59] Panahi was awarded theGolden Bear for the film at the festival.[60]
It has been described as "a portrait of the Iranian capitalTehran"[61] and as a "documentary-like film is set in a Tehran taxi that is driven by Panahi."[62]
In December 2014, Panahi won a $25,000 grant from theMotion Picture Association Academy Film Fund for the screenplayFlower (Gol). He was awarded the grant at the 8th annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Brisbane, Australia. The script, which focuses on disabled people in Iran, was intended to be directed by Panahi's son,Panah Panahi, with Jafar Panahi serving as executive producer.[63][64] The project was described as exploring "the turmoil created by a father's conviction that he must kill his disabled son to bring peace to his family. This challenging drama is drawn from real life, and brings home the plight of people with disabilities in Iran."[65] However, the film was never produced. Panahi made his directorial debut instead with the critically acclaimed road movieHit the Road in 2021.[66][67]
Also filmed semi‑clandestinely in Iran,3 Faces (Se rokh) won the Best Screenplay award at the2018 Cannes Film Festival and was widely praised by critics as a mature and politically engaged work, even within the limitations imposed on the director.
In 2022, Panahi released a new film,No Bears (Jaddeh Khaki), in which a lightly fictionalised Panahi has moved to a small village immediately adjacent to the Turkish border while directing a movie remotely via laptop. Life begins to mirror art as Panahi becomes embroiled in a local scandal involving two young lovers kept apart by custom, superstition and the local moral authorities while his movie—concerning a couple who are trying to escape Iran using false passports—collapses after the two main actors involved are tangled in a web of lies as they too try to flee the repressive Iranian state for good.
The film won theChicago International Film Festival Award for Cinematic Bravery and was nominated for Best Feature. It won Best Film at theTrieste Film Festival and theOslo Films from the South Festival and won the Special Jury Prize at the 2022Venice Film Festival.
In April 2025 it was announced that Panahi's latest film,It Was Just an Accident (Yek tasadof-e sadeh), would premiere in competition at the2025 Cannes Film Festival on 20 May.[68] Before the premiere the plot of the film was kept secret except for a logline: "What begins as a minor accident sets in motion a series of escalating consequences."[69] The film was shot without a permit from the Iranian government and features women not wearing a hijab to speak out against the country's oppressive hijab law. This is his first film since being released from jail in Iran and his return to Cannes after a seven years absence. It was produced by Les Films Pelléas, co-produced by Bidibul Productions and Pio &Co.
At its premiere, the film received an 8-minute standing ovation, where Panahi gave an emotional speech expressing his guilt for being able to travel freely while his fellow filmmakers are being imprisoned in Iran. In his speech he questioned: "...how I could be happy, how I could feel free, if they were still inside." He continued, "Today, I'm here with you, I receive this joy, but I feel the same emotion. How can I rejoice? How can I be free while in Iran, there are still so many of the greatest directors and actresses of Iranian cinema, who, because they participated in and supported the demonstrators during the Femme Liberté movement, are today prevented from working?"[70]
The film later went on to win thePalme d'Or at the film festival's conclusion.[71]
In 1997 Panahi made the documentary short filmArdekoul. In 2007 he contributed the short filmUntying the Knot to the omnibus filmPersian Carpet. The film contains one single long take and is inspired by his childhood.[27] In 2010 he made the short filmThe Accordion, which was commissioned for theThen and Now Beyond Borders and Differences series of short film byArt for The World. It premiered at the 2010Venice Film Festival.[72] Panahi has referred to the situation in Iran as "the dark ages for filmmaking in Iran" and that he was "presenting the future with something to see, a document of what life was like at that time."[30]
Panahi directed a segment of the anthology filmThe Year of the Everlasting Storm, which had its world premiere at the2021 Cannes Film Festival.[73] In 2024, he collaborated toThe Witness, serving as screenwriter, editor and artistic consultant.[74]
On 15 April 2001, Panahi stopped over atJFK International Airport in New York City en route fromHong Kong toBuenos Aires, where he was to participate in a film festival. He was immediately detained by police officers who wanted to fingerprint and photograph him; Panahi refused both requests on the grounds that he was not a criminal. He was threatened with jail and refused an interpreter or a phone call. After being handcuffed and detained at the airport until the next morning, he was finally allowed to make a phone call to his friend Professor Jamsheed Akrami. He was finally photographed and sent back to Hong Kong.[75][76]
In 2003, Panahi was arrested and interrogated for four hours by the Information Ministry in Iran, then released after being encouraged to leave Iran.[30]
On 30 July 2009,Mojtaba Saminejad, an Iranian blogger and human rights activist writing from Iran, reported that Panahi had been arrested at the cemetery inTehran where mourners had gathered near the grave ofNeda Agha-Soltan.[77] He was able to contact friends in the film industry, both in Iran and internationally, and filmmakers and the news media pressured the Iranian government to release him. He was detained for eight hours. The Iranian government claimed he had been arrested by mistake.[78]
In September 2009, Panahi travelled toMontreal to act as the Head of the Jury at the 2009Montreal World Film Festival. At the festival he convinced the entire jury to wear green scarves during the opening and closing ceremonies in solidarity with the Green Movement in Iran. He also openly supported and appeared in photographs withIranian Green Movement protesters at the festival.[79]
In February 2010, Panahi requested to travel to the 60thBerlin Film Festival to participate in the panel discussion on "Iranian Cinema: Present and Future. Expectations inside and outside of Iran". This request was denied.[80]
Jafar Panahi | |
|---|---|
| Criminal status | Convicted |
| Convictions | 18 December 2010 |
| Criminal charge | Propaganda against the regime |
| Penalty | 6 years imprisonment 20-year media and travel ban (except for medical treatment and pilgrimage toMecca) |
Capture status | Upheld after appeal (15 October 2011) |
| Accomplices | Mohammad Rasoulof Mehdi Pourmoussa |
Date apprehended | 1 April 2010; 15 years ago (2010-04-01) |
| Imprisoned at | Evin Prison,Tehran,Iran |
On 1 March 2010, Panahi was arrested again. Plainclothes officers took him, his wife Tahereh Saidi, daughter Solmaz Panahi, and 15 of his friends toEvin Prison.[81] Most of the group were released after 48 hours andMohammad Rasoulof and Mehdi Pourmoussa on 17 March 2010, but Panahi had to remain insection 209 ofEvin Prison.[82] The government confirmed his arrest but did not specify the charges.[83]
On 14 April 2010, Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance said that Panahi had been arrested because he had "tried to make a documentary about the unrest that followed the disputed2009 re-election of PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad."[citation needed]
On 18 May, Panahi sent a message to Abbas Baktiari, director of the Pouya Cultural Center, an Iranian-French cultural organization in Paris, saying that he was being mistreated in prison and his family were being threatened; as a result had begun a hunger strike.[84] On 25 May he was released on US$200,000 bail while awaiting trial.[85]
On 20 December 2010, after convicting Panahi of "assembly and colluding with the intention to commit crimes against the country's national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic," theIslamic Revolutionary Court sentenced him to six years' imprisonment and a 20-year ban from making or directing any movies, writing screenplays, giving interviews to media, or leaving Iran, except for Hajj holy pilgrimage toMecca ormedical treatment.[2] Panahi's colleagueMohammad Rasoulof also received six years' imprisonment but that sentence was subsequently reduced to one year after appeal.
On 15 October 2011, a court in Tehran upheld Panahi's sentence and ban.[86] Following the decision, Panahi was placed underhouse arrest. He has since been allowed to move more freely but he cannot travel outside Iran.[87]
The following people and organizations called for his release:
France'sMinistry of Foreign Affairs[97] and minister of culture and communicationsFrédéric Mitterrand, German foreign ministerGuido Westerwelle,[98] Government of Canada, Finnish Green MPRosa Meriläinen andHuman Rights Watch[99] have condemned the arrest.
On 8 March 2010 a group of well-known Iranian producers, directors and actors visited Panahi's family to show their support and call for his immediate release. After more than a week in captivity, Panahi was finally allowed to call his family. On 18 March 2010 he was allowed to have visitors, including his family and lawyer. Iran's culture minister said on 14 April 2010 that Panahi had been arrested because he was "making a film against the regime and it was about the events that followed election."[100] In an interview with AFP in mid-March, Panahi's wife, Tahereh Saeedi, denied that he was making a film about post-election events, saying: "The film was being shot inside the house and had nothing to do with the regime."[101]
In mid-March 50 Iranian directors, actors and artists signed a petition seeking Panahi's release.[100] American film directorsPaul Thomas Anderson,Joel & Ethan Coen,Francis Ford Coppola,Jonathan Demme,Robert De Niro,Curtis Hanson,Jim Jarmusch,Ang Lee,Richard Linklater,Terrence Malick,Michael Moore,Robert Redford,Martin Scorsese,James Schamus,Paul Schrader,Steven Soderbergh,Steven Spielberg,Oliver Stone, andFrederick Wiseman signed a letter on 30 April 2010 urging Panahi's release.[102] The petition ends, "Like artists everywhere, Iran's filmmakers should be celebrated, not censored, repressed, and imprisoned." He was named a member of the jury at the 2010Cannes Film Festival but because of his imprisonment he could not attend and his chair was symbolically kept empty.[103]
On 23 December 2010Amnesty International announced that it was mobilizing an online petition spearheaded byPaul Haggis andNazanin Boniadi and signed bySean Penn,Martin Scorsese,Harvey Weinstein and others to protest Panahi's sentence.[104][105]
Cine Foundation International, a "nonprofit film company and human rightsNGO aiming to 'empower open consciousness through cinema'" announced on 3 January 2011 that it was launching a campaign of protest films and public actions calling for Panahi's release. "The campaign will include protest films that speak to human rights issues in Iran and throughout the world, six of which are commissioned feature-length, plus twenty shorts. Participating filmmakers may act anonymously or through pseudonyms since voicing their stories can be dangerous. The films, which will address themes of nation, identity, self, spiritual culture, censorship and imprisonment, will be aimed for public, web and various exhibition media".[106][107] Later in January, CFI deployed a video protest mechanism called White Meadows[108] (named for theMohammad Rasoulof filmThe White Meadows, which Panahi edited) and developed by Ericson deJesus (ofYahoo! andfrog design) at the foundation's request. The video mechanism "allow(s) anyone in the world to record a short video statement about Panahi and Rasoulof. There will be an ESCAPE button at top, allowing quick exit for those in countries where recording a statement would be dangerous. There will be an option to have the screen black, and soon, voice distortion. The video statements will be recorded as mp4s, giving them maximum transmedia capacity, which essentially makes them broadcastable from any device that can show video".[109] Users can also use the mechanism to comment on how they would "like to see as an international response by the film industry", comment on the state of human rights in general, or "report a human rights abuse to the world".[110]
In his March 2011 greetings to the Iranian people on the occasion of the Iranian New Year, U.S. PresidentBarack Obama cited Panahi's case as an example of Iran's oppressive regime.[111] In April 2011Time Magazine placed Panahi third on its list of the Top 10 Persecuted Artists who have challenged authority.[112]
In Spring 2011Boston'sAmerican Repertory Theater andSystem of a Down'sSerj Tankian dedicated their production ofPrometheus Bound to Panahi and seven other activists, stating in the program notes that "by singing the story ofPrometheus, the God who defied the tyrantZeus by giving the human race both fire and art, this production hopes to give a voice to those currently being silenced or endangered by modern-day oppressors".[113]
On 26 October 2012 Panahi was announced as a co-winner of theEuropean Parliament'sSakharov Prize. He shared the award with Iranian human rights lawyerNasrin Sotoudeh.[114] European Parliament PresidentMartin Schulz called them "a woman and a man who have not been bowed by fear and intimidation and who have decided to put the fate of their country before their own".[115]Catherine Ashton, the European UnionHigh Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said of the prize, "I am following the case of Nasrin Sotoudeh and other human rights defenders with great concern ... We will continue to campaign for the charges against them to be dropped. We look to Iran to respect the human rights obligations it has signed up to".[114] Panahi's daughter Solmaz accepted the award.[116]
In March 2013Columbia University professorHamid Dabashi wrote an article highly critical of Panahi and his decision to continue making films and partially blaming him for the "tragic endings of Iranian cinema". Dabashi had previously written extensively about and praised Panahi's early career. Dabashi called Panahi's two post-arrest films "self-indulgent vagaries farthest removed from" his previous films and wrote that Panahi "should have heeded the vicious sentence and stayed away from his camera for a while and not indulge, for precisely the selfsame social punch that have made his best films knife-sharp precise has now dulled the wit of the filmmaker that was once able to put it to such magnificent use."[117]
In June 2013 Panahi was invited to join theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[118]
In August 2013, shortly after the election of Iranian PresidentHassan Rouhani, several well-known political prisoners were released. One such prisoner was Panahi's Sakharov Prize co-winner Nasrin Sotoudeh, whose release prompted European Parliament PresidentMartin Schulz to say "We are eagerly waiting to welcome her in Strasbourg together with her Sakharov Prize co-winner, film director Jafar Panahi."[119] A few days earlier the House of Cinema, Iran's largest professional guild for filmmakers, reopened after having been deemed illegal in January 2012.[120]
On 11 July 2022, Panahi was arrested when he went to the prosecutor's office to follow up on the situation of filmmakersMohammad Rasoulof andMostafa Aleahmad. He was the third director detained in less than a week.[121] On 1 February 2023, Panahi began ahunger strike, demanding his release from prison.[122] He was released 48 hours later.[123]
In December 2025, Iran sentenced Panahi to one year in prisonin absentia and a travel ban over “propaganda activities” against the nation. The sentence also included a 2-year ban on leaving Iran and prohibited Panahi from joining any political or social organizations. Panahi's lawyer announced that they would be seeking an appeal regarding the sentencing.[124][125][126]
During the2025–2026 Iranian protests and2026 Iran massacres, Panahi stated that theinternet blackout in Iran is a tool of repression, designed to hide the mass killings by theIslamic republic's forces.[127]
On 28 January 2026, Panahi, along with several other Iranian intellectuals, includingAmirsalar Davoudi,Hatam Ghaderi,Abolfazl Ghadyani,Mehdi Mahmoudian,Abdollah Momeni,Mohammad Najafi,Mohammad Rasoulof,Nasrin Sotoudeh, andSedigheh Vasmaghi, and theNarges Mohammadi Human Rights Foundation, published a statement onInstagram asserting that the2026 Iran massacres were acrime against humanity, accusingSupreme Leader of IranAli Khamenei of holding principal responsibility.[128]
Panahi's style is often described as an Iranian form ofneorealism.[129] Or, in his own words, capturing the "humanitarian aspects of things.”[130] Jake Wilson describes his films as connected by a "tension between documentary immediacy and a set of strictly defined formal parameters" in addition to "overtly expressed anger at the restrictions that Iranian society imposes".[131]
Panahi differs from his fellow realist filmmakerAbbas Kiarostami in the explicitness of his social critique. Stephen Teo wrote:
"Panahi's films redefine the humanitarian themes of contemporary Iranian cinema, firstly, by treating the problems of women in modern Iran, and secondly, by depicting human characters as 'non-specific persons'—more like figures who nevertheless remain full-blooded characters, holding on to the viewer's attention and gripping the senses. Like the best Iranian directors who have won acclaim on the world stage, Panahi evokes humanitarianism in an unsentimental, realistic fashion, without necessarily overriding political and social messages. In essence, this has come to define the particular aesthetic of Iranian cinema. So powerful is this sensibility that we seem to have no other mode of looking at Iranian cinema other than to equate it with a universal concept of humanitarianism."[132]
Panahi says his style can be described as "humanitarian events interpreted in a poetic and artistic way". "In a world where films are made with millions of dollars, we made a film about a little girl who wants to buy a fish for less than a dollar [The White Balloon]—this is what we're trying to show", he said.[77] Panahi has said that "in all of my films, you never see an evil character, male or female. I believe everyone is a good person."[133]
In an interview with Anthony Kaufman, Panahi said: "I was very conscious of not trying to play with people's emotions; we were not trying to create tear-jerking scenes. So it engages people's intellectual side. But this is with assistance from the emotional aspect and a combination of the two."[134]
Hamid Dabashi has called Panahi the least self-conscious filmmaker in the history of Iranian film[39] and said that his films represent a post-revolutionary Iranian outlook on itself,[135] callingCrimson Gold not just a history of a failed jewellery robbery "but also [a history] of recent Iranian history, the history of the failed Islamic revolution and the Iran-Iraq war in particular."[135]
Dabashi praises Panahi's restrained depiction of violence, saying that his "manner of showing violence without showing who has perpetrated it has now become a trademark of Panahi's cinema."[136] Dabashi specifically cites Razieh's brother inThe White Balloon as clearly having been beaten in one scene, but only being given hints of the violence of Razieh's father from off screen. InThe Circle Nargress has been beaten but we are never told why or by whom. Dabashi writes, "violence in Panahi's cinema is like a phantom: you see through it, but it lacks a source or physical presence—who has perpetrated it is made intentionally amorphous. The result is a sense of fear and anxiety that lurks in every frame of his film, but it is a fear without an identifiable referent."[136]
Some Iranians have criticized his work, claiming that his films "don't draw a realistic picture of Iran, or that the difficulties encountered by women in [his] films apply to only a certain class of women."[137]
Panahi is married to Tahereh (or Tahere) Saidi, whom he first met in college when she was working as a nurse.[11][138] They have a son,Panah Panahi,[11] a filmmaker, and a daughter, Solmaz. Panah attended the University of Tehran,[49] and Solmaz studied theater in Tehran.[11]
| Year | Title | Original Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | The White Balloon | بادکنک سفید, Bādkonake Sefid | co-written withAbbas Kiarostami |
| 1997 | The Mirror | آینه, Ayneh | |
| 2000 | The Circle | دایره, Dayereh | co-written withKambuzia Partovi, banned in Iran before release |
| 2003 | Crimson Gold | طلای سرخ, Talāye sorkh | co-written byAbbas Kiarostami, banned in Iran before release |
| 2006 | Offside | آفساید, Afsaid | co-written by Shadmehr Rastin, banned in Iran before release |
| 2011 | This Is Not a Film | این فیلم نیست, In film nist | co-directed byMojtaba Mirtahmasb, made illegally |
| 2013 | Closed Curtain | پرده, Pardeh | co-directed byKambuzia Partovi, made illegally |
| 2015 | Taxi | تاکسی, Taxi | Made illegally |
| 2018 | 3 Faces | سه رخ, Se rokh | |
| 2021 | The Year of the Everlasting Storm | شاهد, Shahed | Anthology film; segment: "Life" |
| 2022 | No Bears | خرس نیست, Khers nist | Made illegally |
| 2025 | It Was Just an Accident | یک تصادف ساده, Yek tasadof-e sadeh |
| Year | Title | Original Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | The Wounded Heads | Yarali Bashlar | documentary |
| 1991 | Kish | documentary | |
| 1992 | The Friend | Doust | |
| The Last Exam | Akharin Emtehan | ||
| 1993 | A Second Look | Negah-E Dovom | documentary |
| 1997 | Ardekoul | documentary | |
| 2007 | Untying the Knot | part of the omnibus filmPersian Carpet (Farsh-e Irani) | |
| 2010 | The Accordion | part of theTHEN AND NOW Beyond Borders and Differences film series forArt for The World | |
| Year | Title | Position | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | The Fish | Assistant director | Kambuzia Partovi |
| 1994 | Through the Olive Trees | Assistant director, actor | Abbas Kiarostami |
| 1997 | Traveler from the South | Editor | Parviz Shahbazi |
| 2005 | Verdict | Editor | Masud Kimiai |
| Border Café | Editor | Kambuzia Partovi | |
| 2009 | The White Meadows | Editor | Mohammad Rasoulof |
| 2021 | Hit the Road | Producer | Panah Panahi |
| 2024 | The Witness | Editor, co-writer | Nader Saeivar |
| Year | Festival | Role | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | Jury member | [197] |
| 2007 | Eurasia International Film Festival | Jury member | [198] |
| 2007 | International Film Festival of Kerala | Chair of the Jury | [199] |
| 2008 | International Film Festival Rotterdam | Jury member | [200] |
| 2009 | Montreal World Film Festival | President of the Jury | [201] |
