“Funny, moving, and rich with meaning … the very existence of this movie is a gift.”
—Slate

“It’s a political statement, an act of defiance, a master class in one auteur’s body of work and process, and a document of a life unseen. But above all, it’s a gripping entertainment.”
—The Village Voice

“Meditates with touching simplicity on the very nature of filmmaking … one of cinema’s rare masterpieces of truth.”
—Mubi Notebook

“It’s a cry from the heart of an artist compelled to create, tell stories, and respond to hostile, confounding realities.”
—The Washington Post

This directly autobiographical documentary by Jafar Panahi and his collaborator Mojtaba Mirtahmasb was made during the filmmaker’s house arrest when he was forbidden, for political reasons, from doing the one thing he cares most about in the world: making cinema. It portrays Panahi’s home life under these restrictive conditions and is in and of itself a defiant gesture. THIS IS NOT A FILM was smuggled out of Iran on a USB drive that was baked into a cake, and subsequently screened at many international film festivals and won international awards.