Q&A with director Jafar Panahi

Saturday, Nov. 29 2025, 1:00

• Jafar Panahi was born in 1960 in Mianeh, Iran. After studying at the Iran Broadcasting University, he directed several short films, documentaries, and TV movies. In 1995, he directed his first feature, The White Balloon, co-written with his mentor Abbas Kiarostami. After numerous other award-winning and politically provocative films such as The Mirror, The Circle, Crimson Gold, and Offside, Panahi was arrested for the first time by the Iranian government in 2009. In 2010, Panahi was sentenced to a 20-year ban from directing films, writing screenplays, giving interviews to the press, or leaving Iran, under threat of a six-year prison sentence. The verdict was upheld on appeal in the fall of 2011. Despite these restrictions, he co-directed This Is Not a Film with Mojtaba Mirtahmasb. Shot entirely in his apartment, the film captures his daily life as an artist forbidden to work. In 2012, he clandestinely co-directed a new film with Kambuzia Partovi entitled Closed Curtain. In February 2015, he premiered Taxi Tehran at the Berlin Film Festival. It was his first film shot on his own and in public since 2010. Critically acclaimed worldwide, Taxi Tehran also won over the Cannes jury, helmed by American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. In 2017, Panahi began production on 3 Faces, which took him from Tehran to northwest Iran. The film competed at Cannes in May 2018, where it won the Best Screenplay Award. On July 11, 2022, Jafar Panahi was arrested and would not be released again until February 3, 2023, after a hunger strike. 2022 is also the year he received the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival for No Bears. In 2025, he returned to the Cannes Film Festival competition with It Was Just an Accident, ultimately winning the Palm d’Or.

This is a Priority Purchase event. Members at the Film Buff level and above LOG IN now to purchase tickets. Purchase your tickets quickly—this is sure to sell out. Any remaining tickets will become available when the Priority Purchase ends Monday, Nov. 17 at noon. Call Membership at 914.773.7663, ext. 6 to join or upgrade today for the next Priority Purchase.

Tickets: $20 (members), $25 (nonmembers)

Buy Tickets