Jafar Panahi Competes with 'Taxi' at the Berlin Film Festival

Jafar Panahi, the Iranian director, will participate in the competition section of the 65th Berlin Film Festival this year with his new film 'Taxi'. Panahi, who is currently serving a sentence and is banned from working, has made this film in silence. The film, which takes place in a taxi, is written by Panahi himself and, like his other work 'This Is Not a Film', has a documentary narrative structure. In his new film, Panahi drives a taxi around the city, picking up various passengers and conversing with them. Interestingly, some political and social figures also get into Panahi's taxi during the journey, and the story unfolds this way. Panahi's previous film, 'Closed Curtain', was showcased in the competition section of the Berlin Film Festival two years ago and won the Best Screenplay award. Mr. Panahi co-directed that film with Kambuzia Partovi. The 2015 Berlin Film Festival is expected to feature a strong presence of Iranian cinema. Besides Jafar Panahi's 'Taxi', it is reported that two other Iranian films will also be screened in various sections of the festival. Pegah Ahangarany and Taraneh Alidoosti star in the film 'Atomic Heart Mother'. According to reports, the film 'Atomic Heart Mother' directed by Ali Ahmadzadeh will be shown in the 'Forum' section of the Berlin Festival, and the film 'Jumping from Low Heights' directed by Hamed Rajabi will be screened in the Panorama section of this festival. These two films, which had also applied to participate in the Fajr Festival, were deemed unworthy of screening by the selection committee. Taraneh Alidoosti, Pegah Ahangarany, Mehrdad Sedighian, and Mohammad Reza Golzar are the four main actors in 'Atomic Heart Mother'. The story of this film takes place over one night until morning and is filmed entirely on the streets of Tehran. 'Kami's Party' is Ali Ahmadzadeh's previous film, which has not received a screening permit and is currently under censorship. Ramid Javan and Negar Javaherian star in 'Jumping from Low Heights', which is Hamed Rajabi's first feature film. He previously collaborated with Majid Barzegar on the screenplays of 'Season of the Monsoon Rains' and 'Parviz'. Negar Javaherian and Ramid Javan are the main actors in this film, which is produced by Majid Barzegar. The film tells the story of a girl named Nahid who is four months pregnant and discovers that the fetus in her womb has died. She decides to remain silent and not tell anyone about this matter. The 65th Berlin International Film Festival will begin on February 5 (16 Bahman) and will continue until February 15 (26 Bahman).