Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi interrogates the authority of his homeland in his film about a couple attempting to secure fake passports so that they can flee to France. While filming, Pahani once again finds himself caught up in his own movie as he confronts local traditions and begins to court suspicion. Recently sentenced to six years imprisonment for supporting public protests, award-winning director Panahi continues to defy those who try to silence him by using film as a medium to decry artistic and political censorship in Iran.

Reviews

‘Its very existence is an act of defiance, a metafictional portrait of a dissident artist still at work. It also has a flavour all its own: a complex layer cake of guilt and suspicion’
★★★★★
Danny Leigh, The FT

‘The humane light that Panahi strives to use on even his most oppressive characters belies a sharp awareness of the power lines and misinformation that color an atmosphere where no one is easy around telling the truth.’
★★★★
Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire