Jafar Panahi’s latest film Taxi was screened at the Berlin Film Festival on February 6 despite his work being outlawed in Iran.
Panahi is sentenced to six years in jail and a 20-year ban from filmmaking because of his involvement in the 2009 election protests. He is also banned from traveling abroad, which kept him from attending the Berlin screening.
Despite the ban on his filmmaking, Panahi has continued to make films, and this is his third film since his sentence.
Panahi offers his impressions of contemporary Tehran as seen from the window of a taxicab. The film was made using a mounted dashboard camera to escape detection by the authorities.
The images are accompanied by stories told by each person he offers a lift to. Nasrin Sotoudeh, the prominent human rights lawyer, makes an appearance in the film as one of the passengers.
Panahi’s last move, Close Curtain, was also shown at the Berlin Film Festival, winning the Silver Bear award for best screenplay. Taxi is a contender for the festival’s Golden Bear award to be awarded on February 14.
