Bijou showing clandestine documentary from Iran
Friday, April 13, 2012
Written by: Christopher Clair

The Bijou Cinema, the University of Iowa's student-run independent movie house in the Iowa Memorial Union, will begin screenings of This Is Not a Film at 9:30 p.m., Friday, April 20.

Admission is $7 (free for UI students with valid UI ID); tickets are available from the University Box Office, located on the first floor of the Iowa Memorial Union, adjacent to the Bijou entrance.

This clandestine documentary, shot partially on an iPhone and smuggled into France in a cake for a last-minute submission to Cannes, depicts the day-to-day life of acclaimed director Jafar Panahi during his house arrest in his Tehran apartment. While appealing his sentence—six years in prison, a 20-year ban from filmmaking—Panahi is seen talking to his family and lawyer on the phone, discussing his plight with fellow filmmaker Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, and reflecting on the meaning of the art of filmmaking.

View the trailer below:

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Additional screenings will be offered at the following times:

  • 9:30 p.m., Saturday, April 21
  • 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 24
  • 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 25
  • 9:30 p.m., Thursday, April 26

Visit bijou.uiowa.edu for more information about the Bijou Cinema.