Feb 13, 2025 7:30 pm | Iran | 2022 | 106m | Cert 12 | Drama
NO BEARS is the outstanding new film from acclaimed Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi. In the film Panahi plays himself, a filmmaker trying to direct a cast and crew in Turkey, who is forced to remain in an Iranian village close to the border. As his actors perform their own story of attempted escape to Europe, Panahi finds himself coming up against suspicion and local traditions in the village where he is staying. Panahi’s latest film is a testimony to how artistry and protest can find inspiration in the very restrictions that he and other creative voices face.
… In drawing parallels between himself, the star-crossed couple he becomes entangled with, and the lovers at the heart of his film-within-the-film, the director builds a riveting and upsetting story with the escalating pace of a thriller
Calum Baker, Radio Times