Films by Jafar Panahi, winner of the Palme d'Or, to watch online

What begins as a minor accident sets in motion a series of escalating consequences.

Jafar Panahi is a director banned in his own homeland, but he uses this limitation like nobody else to make a film that is not just a movie. It's much more than that: it's a portrait of a society.

This is the fourth film from Iranian director Jafar Panahi ('Taxi Teerã'), after being banned from filming by his country's government. 'Se Rokh' is a fictional road movie and documentary, starring Panahi himself and actress Behnaz Jafari. The director takes advantage of his situation to raise various reflections on the conservative landscape of Iranian society and its position in relation to cinema and culture in general.

Jafar Panahi, the award-winning Iranian director known for 'Taxi Tehran' and other productions, brings his gaze to the story of a young woman who was forbidden to sing by Iranian authorities. In 'Hidden', Panahi makes use of two cell phones and a good dose of expression - or in this case repression - cultural to give voice to a woman who lost her voice due to her country's regime. This story ends up getting close to the director's own life, who was forbidden from making films in Iran. Because of this, it becomes even more inspiring. Jafar Panahi reveals that he will not stop making his art and brings in his productions a little bit of what it is to be marginalized within a profession and/or a specific region. The short film originally is part of the collection 'Celles qui chantent', from a program of the Opéra de Paris, where the female voice is the focus of small films made by Panahi, Sergey Loznitsa, Julie Deliquet and Karim Moussaoui.

The acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi was arrested prior to the release of his latest movie, 'Without Bears', at the Venice Film Festival in 2022. He spent seven months in jail and was placed under house arrest after going on a hunger strike. The film portrays two parallel love stories, permeated by hidden and inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition, and the mechanics of power. With a sensitive and deeply human approach, "Without Bears" is a movie that constantly challenges the boundaries of cinema and brings important reflections on life and love.