The Circle
In his masterful third feature, Panahi visualises the cruel absurdities women are subjected to in Iran – resulting in the film being banned there. (And yet, the prize it won at Venice is displayed in Tehran’s Cinema Museum: the regime still wants to promote the overseas successes of Iranian cinema.) The heroines of The Circle are poor, and several have just been released from prison (their apparent crimes go unspecified). Panahi films them with an empathetic gaze, focusing on everyday difficulties: they can’t travel alone, nor check into a hotel; a hijab is not sufficient coverage to enter a hospital. An emotionally gripping realist work in which oppression is shown to begin at birth, and the fates of all women are linked.
35mm collection print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive
Special Guests
One of the world’s great cinema artists, Jafar Panahi has been crafting self-reflexive works about political, artistic and personal freedom for the past three decades, despite being banned from filmmaking by the government of his native Iran since 2010. He is the only living filmmaker to win the top prizes at the Berlinale, Venice and Cannes, winning the Golden Bear for TEHRAN TAXI (SFF 2015), the Golden Lion for THE CIRCLE (SFF 2001) and the Palme d'Or this year for IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT.
Tickets
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