Iranian director Jafar Panahi has become one of the most notorious directors to come out of the country. Born in northern Iran, Panahi found an interest in cinema and movies after acquiring a film camera. He worked to have the money to go out and see films at a theater, and after serving in the Iranian army, he enrolled at the College of Cinema and TV in Iran. His early work mainly consists of documentary films made for television, and he made several short films during this era. However, in 1995, Panahi was ready to make his debut as a feature film director and did so with The White Balloon.

This movie was intended to be a short film, but after showing fellow director Abbas Kiarostami the work in progress, he was encouraged to turn it into a full-feature movie. And Panahi did just that. The White Balloon won several awards in Iran, then won the Camera d’Or at Cannes Film Festival. Panahi’s career was only just beginning. He would utilize movies as a medium to effectively interrogate social issues in Iran, which would ultimately lead to his indefinite house arrest. Despite being told to no longer make movies, Panahi continues to do just that, chasing after inspiration from the confines of his home. His newest film, No Bears, has been making its rounds in 2022.These are his best movies so far.

6 This Is Not a Film

     Jafar Panahi Film Productions

This Is Not a Film is a documentary Panahi made in 2011 while in isolation; he was technically under house arrest and forbidden to make films, yet he made this documentary. Contained within a flash drive, it was smuggled out of Iran and to Cannes inside a birthday cake (via The Guardian). Panahi made this film with only his iPhone, and it consists of him telling what life is like while under house arrest. At times, his family members and lawyer appear throughout the documentary when they come to visit him, as the filmmaker is trying to appeal his sentence in the courts.

5 Offside

Released in 2006, Offside is a relevant movie about the current status of women in Iranian society. It was eventually banned from screening in Iran when it was finished. Ever since the installment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, women have been banned from attending soccer games. In Offside, a young girl decides she wants to attend a game at Azadi Stadium and disguises herself as a boy to get inside. She is arrested and joined by several other women who also tried to sneak in, and the guards watching over them don’t seem to care for the law.

4 Crimson Gold

Crimson Gold was a joint effort from Panahi, who directed the movie, and Kiarostami, who wrote it. Although both filmmakers put a considerable amount of effort into the movie, it was never screened in Iran due to its subject matter. It opens with a man attempting to rob a jewelry shop, and when the robbery fails, he shoots himself and the shop owner. The story then moves backward to show how the man, named Hosseini, ended up making such drastic decisions on that fateful day. He is an ordinary pizza driver and veteran struggling with mental health issues, so when he ultimately succumbs to his conditions, it leads to a specific series of decisions.

3 The Circle

     Iranian Independents

2 Taxi

Taxi is unique because Panahi stars in the leading role. The winner of several big awards, including the Golden Bear, Taxi is not to be missed in Panahi’s filmography. In this film, he pretends to be a taxi driver in the streets of Tehran. He refuses payment from any of his patrons but instead asks them what their thoughts and stories are. In doing so, Panahi meets a strange mix of people from all walks of life and engages with a wide variety of opinions about politics, the mundane, and what it means to be an Iranian filmmaker.

1 3 Faces

3 Faces stars Panahi and Behnaz Jafari in the leading roles and won Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival. Out of the films he made during his arrest and ban, 3 Faces is the one that stands out the most. In it, Behnaz Jafari and Jafar Panahi search for a young girl in Iran’s northwest. Behnaz found the girl online in a video, where she was begging for assistance to flee her conservative family. Thus begins a road trip to find the girl in Iran’s Azerbaijani-speaking communities.