One of the world’s great cinematic artists, Jafar Panahi has been carefully crafting self-reflexive works about artistic, personal, and political freedom for the past three decades, despite his oppression at the hands of the Iranian government. Now, as the international film community vehemently denounces his summer 2022 arrest and continued imprisonment for his vocal support of a fellow artist’s independence.

In NO BEARS, as in many of his recent titles, Panahi plays a fictionalised version of himself, in this case relocated to a rural border town to remotely direct a new film in nearby Turkey – the story of which comes to sharply mirror disturbing events that begin to occur around him. As he struggles to complete his film, Panahi finds himself thrust in the middle of a local scandal, confronting the opposing pulls of tradition and progress, city and country, belief and evidence, and the universal desire to reject oppression.

Dir Jafar Panahi//1 hr 46 mins//Subtitles// Certificate 12A//2022

Reviews:

ROTTEN TOMATOES 99%: ‘No Bears is a masterpiece through which he explores the repression and entrapment of people and a society in all its forms.’

ROGER EBERT 4 out of 4 stars.  ‘No Bears builds to a low-key devastating finale that serves as a rejoinder to contemporary fairy dust about how movies are magic.’

Tickets £6.50/£5.50 available from HEART reception and online

Doors 7pm Film 7.15pm