• film

Dir: Jafar Panahi 2022 | 107 mins

The outstanding new film from acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi.

He plays himself – a filmmaker trying to direct a cast and crew in Turkey. He is forced to remain in an Iranian village close to the border.

As his actors perform their own story of attempted escape to Europe, Panahi finds himself coming up against suspicion and local traditions in the village where he is staying.

Jafar Panahi's latest film is a testimony to how artistry and protest can find inspiration in the very restrictions that he and other creative voices face.

‘A piercingly self-aware portrait of an artist who is not afraid to depict himself and his craft as aloof or insular’ ★★★★ Observer

‘A dark postmodern satire about the unexpected film that emerges within a film about making a film’ Times

‘Life, as they say, goes on, and No Bears observes people toiling away at existing while Panahi wrestles with the existential, this juxtaposition providing the cleverly timed comic relief that aids his witty social commentary’ Little White Lies