SFFS Presents: 'This Is Not a Film' April 6, 2012

Banned from making films for twenty years and under house arrest, Iranian director Jafar Panahi circumvents the edict through a technicality. He will read his latest screenplay aloud on-camera and invites his friend, documentarian Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, to record him. They start out with a relatively straightforward day-in-the-life presentation as Panahi discusses the creative process, fields phone calls, feeds a pet iguana and watches clips from his prior films for inspiration. But, unable to resist his calling, he begins performing as though he were directing, mapping off his rug to set the scene, acting out some of the roles and interviewing a visitor who works in his building. The line between what is and is not a film is broached with reverberating import. Filmed on HD and camera phone, this is do-it-yourself, imaginative, revolutionary filmmaking at its zenith.

Watch a trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fFmZjcgH_iE