NO BEARS
In his new virtuosic sleight-of-hand — completed shortly before his imprisonment in July 2022 — Jafar Panahi plays a fictionalized version of himself, who has relocated to a rural border town in Iran and he finds himself thrust in the middle of a local scandal.
SYNOPSIS
One of the world’s great cinematic artists, Jafar Panahi has been carefully crafting self-reflexive works about artistic, personal, and political freedom for the past three decades, despite his oppression at the hands of the Iranian government. Now, as the international film community vehemently denounces his summer 2022 arrest and continued imprisonment for his vocal support of a fellow artist’s independence, Panahi has gifted us all with a new virtuosic sleight-of-hand. In NO BEARS, as in many of his recent titles, Panahi plays a fictionalized version of himself, in this case relocated to a rural border town to remotely direct a new film in nearby Turkey – the story of which comes to sharply mirror disturbing events that begin to occur around him. As he struggles to complete his film, Panahi finds himself thrust in the middle of a local scandal, confronting the opposing pulls of tradition and progress, city and country, belief and evidence, and the universal desire to reject oppression.
Director
Jafar Panahi
WITH
Jafar Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjei, Vahid Mobasheri, Bakhtiyar Panjeei
Run Time
1 hour, 47 minutes
Released
December 23, 2022
Distributed by
Janus Films
HEARING AND VISUAL ASSISTANCE
Assisted Listening
Subtitled/Open Captions
Country
Iran
SUBTITLES
Persian and Azerbaijani with English Subtitles
NOT RATED
Many of the films shown at The Ross are not rated due to the prohibitive cost of acquiring a rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. Consequently, as many of these films contain graphic content, viewer discretion is advised.
SHOWINGS
MAR 10 | FRI
5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m
MAR 11 | SAT
12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.
MAR 12 | SUN
12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.
MAR 13 | MON
5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.
MAR 14 | TUE
5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.
MAR 15 | WED
5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.
MAR 16 | THU
5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.
MAR 17 | FRI
5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.
MAR 18 | SAT
5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.
MAR 19 | SUN
12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.
MAR 20 | MON
5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.
MAR 21 | TUE
5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.
MAR 22 | WED
5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.
MAR 23 | THU
5:00, 7:20, 9:40 p.m.
Reviews
“Deceptively simple at first, and then accumulating increasingly complex layers by almost imperceptible degrees, No Bears deals with borders both physical and spiritual…“
“You leave feeling like you’ve just seen a truly extraordinary late work produced by one of the era’s greatest working auteurs, quickly followed by the sense of experiencing a sucker punch.”
“Panahi has made, paradoxically, a great movie about a medium that often falls short of greatness. You long to see him free, not least so he can make another.”