Free Jafar Panahi

After studying at the University of Cinema and Television in Tehran, running shorts and medium-length films for television and is an assistant to the Iranian Abbas Kiarostami for under the olive trees (1994).

In 1995 he made his debut feature film The White Balloon, from a screenplay by Abbas Kiarostami, moral fable with characters moving children taken directly from reality, which earned him the Camera d'or at Cannes. In 1997 he won the Golden Leopard at Locarno with mirror, fable the difficult situation of women in a society dominated by Islamic morality.

The same theme also returns in The Circle (2000), ensemble film about the history of eight contemporary women prisoners in Iran, which won the Venice Golden Lion. In 2003 he won the Jury Prize at Cannes in Un Certain Regard with red gold, noir hovering between neo-realism and abstraction, from a screenplay by Abbas Kiarostami and forbidden at home. Suffers the same fate as his next feature film, Offside, poised between comedy and documentary, which tells the story of a group of girls who disguise themselves as men to try to watch a game of the Iranian national soccer team in Tehran. The film was awarded in Berlin in 2006 with the Silver Bear (Grand Jury Prize).

Arrested March 2, 2010 for participation in the protest movements against the Iranian regime, after the mobilization of organizations to defend human rights and the world of cinema at the international level, is released on bail on May 24 of that year.

On December 20, 2010 Panahi is sentenced to six years in prison: he was also deprived of the opportunity to direct, write and produce films, travel and interviews both inside and outside of Iran for 20 years.