No Bears
2022, 106 mins, Not Rated
Presented by: Kimball Jenkins
FILM SCREENING & PANEL DISCUSSION
ADMISSION, FREE & BY DONATION
MAY 8, 6 PM
RED RIVER THEATRES
This special film screening and discussion of Jafar Panahi’s incomparable film, No Bears, will be led by Yasamin Safarzadeh and Nahal Nazer, Somayeh Kashi and Dr. Fatemeh Rahmanifard regarding why Iran is in the middle of ongoing protests targeted at women.
Understanding the history of Iran/Persia is tens of thousands of years old. Understanding that there are different experiences of ‘Iranian’ which range from generation to region to gender identity and sexual orientation. The full panel will consist of five people, predominantly female identifying Iranian and Iranian-American. The panel will ask for and explore space and nuance in perceiving Iranian people.
No Bears was illegally shot in Iran and is a satire on the missteps of a protagonist who is an exaggerated version of Panahi himself. He struggles to direct a movie being shot in Turkey through video calls over the border in Iran; exemplifying the traumas of invisible borders. Panahi was jailed in Iran when he protested the incarceration of fellow filmmakers and subsequently released when he endangered his own life to go on a hunger strike while imprisoned.
No Bears won the Special Jury Prize in 2022’s Venice Film Festival, the award for Cinematic Bravery at the Chicago Film Festival, a Silver Mirror Award from the Oslo Films from the South Festival, and the SNCCI Award from the Trieste Film Festival.
