This is Not a Film

Tehran, 2011. Under house arrest, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi awaits the verdict of the Court of Appeal. He's facing a sentence of six years in prison and has been banned from making films for two decades after publicly challenging the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the riots of June 2009. With the help of his friend Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Panahi's ordeal is documented as he is confined to his apartment. Between calls to his lawyer, the director, whose passionate speech is peppered with references to his work, describes a screenplay he is forbidden to shoot about a girl locked in her home by her parents—a story that obviously refers to Panahi's own situation.