This Is Not a Film (2011)

100% of critics liked it
(71 reviews)
75% of users liked it
(4,253 ratings)

This clandestine documentary, shot partially on an iPhone and smuggled into France in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes, depicts the day-to-day life of acclaimed director Jafar Panahi (Offside, The Circle) during his house arrest in his Tehran apartment. While appealing his sentence -… More This clandestine documentary, shot partially on an iPhone and smuggled into France in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes, depicts the day-to-day life of acclaimed director Jafar Panahi (Offside, The Circle) during his house arrest in his Tehran apartment. While appealing his sentence - six years in prison and a 20 year ban from filmmaking - Panahi is seen talking to his family and lawyer on the phone, discussing his plight with Mirtahmasb and reflecting on the meaning of the art of filmmaking. -- (C) Palisades Tartan

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 15 min.
Directed By: Jafar Panahi, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb
Written By: Jafar Panahi
Genres: Documentary, Art House & International, Special Interest

In Theaters: Feb 29, 2012 Limited
Studio: Palisades Tartan

Critic Reviews

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
It's a cry from the heart of an artist compelled to create, tell stories and respond to hostile, confounding realities.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
In short, "This Is Not a Film" is the world within an apartment, and it is quietly devastating.
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic
It's a statement about courage, a poke in the eye of political oppression.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
I would like to show "This Is Not a Film" to those in the United States who are in favor of a close union of church and state.
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle
An act of political defiance, a moving personal document and a meditation on what film is and can be.
John Anderson, Newsday
There are fireworks -- and an ending that's as dramatic as anything made by any director making a film, which is something Panahi accomplishes with a bit of a wink, and no small amount of courage.
Shawn Levy, Oregonian
Predictably, not much happens in "This Is Not a Film"; dude is under house arrest, after all. But it's absorbing and clever.
James Verniere, Boston Herald
What constitutes imprisonment and what constitutes a film?
Gerald Peary, Boston Phoenix
[A] courageous act of artistic provocation...
Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews
Panahi creates a very personal film that reveals the inner man. His pet iguana, Igi, is pretty cool, too.
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
...never settles down - it's as restless as its house arrested protagonist and a compelling and often humorous look at a day in the life of an auteur with his wings clipped.
Annlee Ellingson, Paste Magazine
A snapshot of a filmmaker in exile, yes, but also a poignant portrait of a country under a repressive regime and a compelling manifesto on the perseverance of art.
Josh Larsen, LarsenOnFilm
...a political act, of course, but that's not the most interesting thing about it.
Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)
The right thing to do would be to give a thumbs up to "Film" just to spread the word. But here's another reason - it's a fascinating film.
Peter Sobczynski, eFilmCritic.com
It may not be what one might normally describe as a "film" but whatever it is that one might call it, "This is Not a Film" is an absolute must-see.
Tom Keogh, Seattle Times
The more "This Is Not a Film" underscores the cruel containment of a great artist, the more we actually become aware - very indirectly, in a very Panahi fashion - of a city in chaos outside, with sounds of gunfire and distant street blazes.
Gail Tolley, The List
This is an important film, a valuable insight into contemporary Iran and the challenges facing their artistic communities.
, Scotsman
The film is never directly confrontational - it certainly eschews diatribes against the current regime - but its point about repressing the natural urge to tell stories is forcefully made.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
It's a true rebel film, full of outrage and defiance, but it's also an intensely personal and moving portrait of a trapped, tragic figure, just like many of Panahi's own best characters.
Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph
What it all adds up to is a ruefully witty essay on what does or does not constitute cinema: Jean-Luc Godard grapples endlessly (some would say incomprehensibly) with these debates, but Panahi's invigorating directness cuts to the chase.

Read all 21 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

William D

It certainly is not a film; it's a rip-off. Charging $13 for "This Is Not a Film," a one-hour short almost devoid of content, is highway robbery. This is one of the few times in my life when I felt the theater owed me a refund. I really resented being charged $13 for… More
It certainly is not a film; it's a rip-off. Charging $13 for "This Is Not a Film," a one-hour short almost devoid of content, is highway robbery. This is one of the few times in my life when I felt the theater owed me a refund. I really resented being charged $13 for this. I was excited when I first heard about this "film," and I love the basic idea for the project. Jafar Panahi, the Iranian filmmaker who has been put under house arrest and prohibited from making films, records the various goings-on in his Teheran apartment using his iPhone. It sounded to me like a great testament to human creativity. You can steal a filmmaker's camera and lock him up, but he will find a way to create! I also love how 21st-century technology undercuts fascist governments at every turn. I couldn't wait to see what Panahi would have to say from the confines of his house arrest. What a shock to learn that he has almost nothing to say. If you're going to work so hard to create clandestine footage and smuggle it out of Iran, at least have something to say! All we see is Panahi puttering about the house, feeding his pet iguana, and answering the phone! We also watch him help the building's superintendent take out the trash. All the while we hear the sound of fireworks going off in the background, as it's some kind of holiday in the country. Initially it sounded like gunfire. But no, just fireworks. After an hour, it's over. This is hardly a testament to human creativity. It's an attempt to milk cash out of the cinephiles around the world who have championed Panahi's cause. This will probably top my Worst of 2012 List.
Walter M

This is as a fascinating bit of minimalism as there has been in quite a long time, not only for its insights into the state of censorship in Iran(from what I can infer, Jafar Panahi's arrest sounds like something out of "Hawaii 5-0,") but for its symbolism in capturing… More
This is as a fascinating bit of minimalism as there has been in quite a long time, not only for its insights into the state of censorship in Iran(from what I can infer, Jafar Panahi's arrest sounds like something out of "Hawaii 5-0,") but for its symbolism in capturing a day in the life of Jafar Panahi, trapped inside waiting for loved ones to return on New Year's Day with fireworks going off just outside. So it may come as no surprise that the only identifiable movie on his DVD rack is "Buried" starring Ryan Reynolds. In all honesty, I don't think 'This is Not a Film' was really meant to be a title in a conventional sense. Rather, it is meant to possibly to work around the Iranian authorities' sentencing Panahi to six years of prison and 20 years without directing, writing a film or giving interviews.(His lawyer thinks there is a chance he could have the prohibitions thrown out and his sentence reduced but he is still going to jail.) All of which he bares up under with humor and fatalism. So, that only leaves him to talk about his old films in pointing out how little control he has had over his amateur casts in the past. To accentuate this, his pet iguana(which is bigger than most cars, by the way) takes center stage at times. So, he stages scenes from what would have been his latest film about a young woman who wants to attend university in Tehran over her traditional parents' wishes. This all comes about when Mojtaba Mirtahmasb conceives of a behind the scenes series on banned directors.(Another way of looking at it, is as they put it, when hairdressers get bored, they do each others' hair.) Even though Panahi does not want to appeal to other Iranian directions which might get them in trouble also, Mirtahmasb also is currently in hot water, too. And finally, the real reason for this being made, is as Panahi puts it, to petition for international pressure, or in other words, us.