THIS IS NOT A FILM (IN FILM NIST) World Cinema

“If one could tell a film, why would one make a film?” In 2006, Jafar Panahi was able to attend AFI FEST and shore his film OFFSIDE with our audience. At this year’s festival, Panahi’s absence is strongly felt. Forbidden by the Iranian government from leaving the country, threatened with imprisonment and , most unthinkably, banned from filmmaking for 20 years, Panahi has made this short document of his life at this inconceivable crossroads. Essential viewing for fans of any cinema , not just Iranian, this is one of the most unique portraits of an artist under constraint ever filmed. Made with his co-director Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, the film was shot over the course of one day as Panahi battles his conviction and seeks to overturn his sentence. On his way to the Toronto Film Festival, Mirtahmasb was detained, stripped of his passport and told he could not leave Iron to present this film. Mirtahmasb has since also been formally arrested and charged by the Iranian government.