The Release of Panahi's 'Taxi' in Paris

The film 'Taxi', the latest work by Jafar Panahi, will be widely released in cinemas across France starting today, Wednesday, April 15 (26 Farvardin). This film, titled 'Taxi - Tehran', will be screened by the Memento company in over 100 theaters in France, with extensive advertising having begun in Paris some time ago. Jafar Panahi, who is currently serving a sentence and is banned from working, made his new film last year 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, Jafar Panahi plays a taxi driver in Tehran, picking up various passengers along the way, engaging with them, and the film progresses in this manner. In the promotional brochure for the film 'Taxi' published in France, Jafar Panahi has provided explanations regarding some issues related to the production of this film. According to the Tehran-based newspaper Bani Film, Mr. Panahi explained about the structure of the film and its filming style: 'I had to make a film suspended between documentary and narrative. I wrote the screenplay and now had to look for its execution... We came across Blackmagic cameras that were the size of a palm and could easily be hidden in a tissue box, a small doll, or a simple cover, not attracting attention from outside. This made everything outside the car documentary and natural, and also provided us with job security inside the car.' In another part of the director's explanations about making this film, it is stated: 'With the three cameras we installed, there was no room left for an extra person; so I had to pay attention to everything from the performances to the camera and sound, and worst of all, my own performance and driving; we couldn't use any lighting equipment because it would attract attention and the work would be exposed. For this reason, we broke through the car's roof and created a large sand roof to balance the light inside and outside.' According to Mr. Panahi, filming 'Taxi' took fifteen days, and with its completion, the initial editing was also finished. Additionally, due to security issues, 'backups of the daily rushes were taken.' In another part of his explanations, Jafar Panahi mentioned the cost of making his film: 'The total budget of the film was about one hundred million tomans, which I borrowed... Most took a small fee from me, and some of the actors did not get paid...' The film 'Taxi' won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the 65th Berlin Film Festival last year. Mr. Panahi, who was unable to attend the festival's closing ceremony due to his travel ban, had previously won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the same festival in 2013 for his film 'Closed Curtain'. At the closing ceremony of the 2015 Berlinale, Hana Saidi, Mr. Panahi's niece and an actress in the film 'Taxi', received the Golden Bear on behalf of the film's creators.