Brief Encounters, Mumbai, screens Jafar Panahi’s This is Not a Film

Made in 2011, This is Not a Film is a genre-defying, ground-breaking film (yes, it is a film) about the reputed Iranian film-maker, Jafar Panahi, made in collaboration with one of his friends, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, who wields the camera too. It was shot secretly in, and from, the house and building of Panahi, where he was serving a house-imprisonment sentence, for having made anti-establishment films secretly, and for supporting the revolution against the ruling Iranian clergy. The film was screened as part of a monthly screening programme, at St. Paul’s Institute, in its auditorium, on the 3^rd floor Alberione Hall of the St. Paul’s complex, in Bandra, Mumbai, on 14 June. The event was organised by the Bandra-based Brief Encounters platform, represented by Ms. Aparajita Sinha and her team. Attendees included film-maker O.P. Srivastava and actor-model Naseer Abdullah. 

Mojtaba Mirtahmasb

Mubi, which does not offer this film for viewing, currently, says about the film, “It’s been months since Jafar Panahi, stuck in jail, has been awaiting a verdict by the appeals court. By depicting a day in his life, Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb try to portray the deprivations looming in contemporary Iranian cinema.” “Using the barest means but inspired by their art, passion, and existence in the world, Panahi and Mirtahmasb craft a masterpiece of truth,” opines Daniel Kasman, and I could not agree more. Panahi has just won the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) at Cannes 2025, for his latest, It Was Just an Accident’.

Panahi is a screen-writer, producer, director, cinematographer and editor, who confesses that he has no knowledge of the technicalities of film-making. Yet, over the years, he has directed many a classic: The White Balloon (1995), The Mirror (1997), The Circle (2000), Crimson Gold (2003), Offside (2006), The Accordion (2010), Taxi Tehran (2015), Where Are You, Jafar Panahi? (2016), 3 Faces (2018), Hidden (2020), Life (2021) and No Bears (2022). He is among the four Iranian film-makers that have achieved overwhelming international acclaim, the others being Abbas Kiarostami, Majid Majidi and Asghar Farhadi. Panahi started as an assistant to Abbas Kiarostami. Panahi left a message on Kiarostami’s answering machine, saying that he loved his films, and asked him to give him the position of an assistant director on his next film. Kiarostami hired Panahi to assist him, for the film Through the Olive Trees

Educated at the Iran Broadcasting College of Cinema and TV, 65-year-old Jafar Panahi, born to an Azerbaijani father, began his career making short films. At the age of 20, At the same age, Panahi was conscripted into the Iranian army, and served in the Iran–Iraq War, working as an army cinematographer from 1980 to 1982. In 1981, he was captured by Kurdish rebels, and held for 76 days. From his war experiences, he made a documentary that was eventually shown on TV. His debut feature, The White Balloon (1995), won the Caméra d’Or (Golden Camera) at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. Panahi has been imprisoned multiple times in Iran, most recently for protesting the detention of film-makers criticising the authorities. This was his first visit to Cannes in 15 years, where his films have been shown in his absence due to a travel ban. The films were ‘smuggled’ to the festival venue in a pen-drive, by one of Panahi’s friends.

This is Not a Film has many moments when nothing really happens. It begins with Panahi having breakfast, and sort of misleads you into believing that this is just a normal, regular documentary. But there is so much to learn about film-making from the 75-minute exercise. Panahi uses scotch-tape to create a set on the corner of his carpet. Among the gems that emerge along the way are the following takeaways:

*Reading out the screenplay of one his planned films, he looks at the camera and suddenly exclaims, in his cultured, soft voice, “If you could tell a film, why make a film?”

*Reminding his co-director and cinematographer, Mojtaba, that he has been banned from writing and making films, he smiles a bit slyly and says to the camera, “But there is no ban on reading a screenplay!”

*In a subtle pointer to the conflict in a character’s life, he says that the vertical lines of the objects in the camera frame are symbolic of the actor’s predicament.

*While there is an iguana in his home, the darling pet of his daughter’s eye, he feeds it and pets it. But when a neighbour asks him to keep her pet dog in his house for two hours, he, at first, reluctantly agrees, and two minutes later, calls the owner to take it back, because the dog barks fiercely and constantly. Noise, and unwanted noise at that, is, obviously, something that creative persons do not take kindly too.

*In two of his film clips, we see how the architecture and an actor’s interpretation, rather than a director’s direction, dictate the shape the scene takes, and, in another film, the tantrums that a little girl throws, when asked to act out a scene with her hand in plaster.

*In the screenplay at hand, the main actress is shaven bald. Why? Because Iranian clergy insists that all Iranian women shoudl ear the hijaab (head and hair covering scarf), even when they are at home. Yet, he reveals, no Iranian women wear it at home. The censors think otherwise. Even if you show a woman at home, in a film, it is objectionable and ordered to be deleted. But to circumvent this dogma, he makes his character bald, thereby defeating the purpose of the hijab. No hair, no hijaab.

Revealing more might be tantamount to giving out spoilers.

While he is being filmed by a regular film camera, Panahi uses his iphone to shoot pictures from his window and from the building’s lift, because he is so bored and has been prohibited from shooting films outside. The entire lift sequence turns out to be highlight of the film, involving a man who comes to collect garbage from each flat of the building. Panahi joins him and travels with him in the elevator, staying back and shooting from within the narrow confines of the half-open lift door. The garbage collector keeps it half open, so that it may not be used by others while he is doing his job. It turns out that the man is quite a character. He was present when the police stormed into Panahi’s house to arrest him, is actually a stand in garbage collector for his brother-in-law, and is doing his Master’s in Art Research. That last occupation brings a wry smile to Panahi’s face, as he asks him to get creative and make art, rather than doing odd-jobs.

After the screening, there was a discussion, led by Raju Biswas and Abhradeep Ganguli. Raju Biswas is a Mumbai-based film-maker, with a Master’s in Mass Communication, from AJK MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, and a Cinematography specialization, from FTII. He has worked on All That Breathes (Assistant Cinematographer) and Against the Tide (Additional Cinematographer). His FTII diploma film, Monday, won a Special Jury Mention at the National Film Awards (2017), and Bubbles won the Gold Award at Jakarta International Film and Art Festival (2018). His credits include Superstars of Koti (HotDocs), Battle for Banaras, and The Churning of the Ocean (screened at MAMI 2020). He recently produced Weaver Bird’s Nest and Bailadila (MAMI 2023).

Abhradeep Ganguli, an alumnus of FTII Pune, is an independent film-maker, author, and educator. His book on the cinema of Jafar Panahi was published at the 46th Kolkata International Book Fair, two years ago. He is currently working on documentaries exploring India’s endangered languages, as well as a collection of short experimental stories

If you get to see the film, please don’t miss the end credit titles.

The Brief Encounters team, with Abhradeep Ganguly, Raju Biswas and Kaushal Oza

It was a ticketed show, with entry at Rs. 200, which included tea/coffee and biscuits. Some snacks were on sale, too, reasonably priced.  

Trailer: https://trailers.mubicdn.net/45427/optimised/720p-t-this-is-not-a-film_en_us_1481015657.mp4