About

In December 2010, the renowned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi—whose curious, politically charged films had long provoked the ire of his home country’s government—received a 20-year ban from filmmaking. Remarkably, his output scarcely slowed in the decade that followed, but it is his first breach of the prohibition that stands as his most provocative middle-finger to those who would seek to silence him.

Shot covertly in Panahi's apartment over the course of a single day and later snuck out of the country on a USB drive concealed inside a cake, this deceptively simple video diary imbues its domestic setting with all the charge of the broader political turmoil that has led the Iranian government to perceive this mild-mannered filmmaker as an existential threat. That Panahi captures such an unparalleled personal and professional crisis in real time only makes his clarity of purpose, and the film's many moments of unlikely visual splendour, more striking.