No Bears

No Bears (, lit. 'There are no bears') is a 2022 Iranian drama film written, directed and produced by Jafar Panahi. The film was shot secretly in Iran and stars Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobasri, Bakhtiar Panjei and Mina Kavani. Production wrapped up in May 2022.

No Bears premiered at the 79th Venice Film Festival in competition for the Golden Lion, without the presence of the director, who has been arrested and sentenced to 6 years prison in Iran, prior to the film's release. The film is distributed by Celluloid Dreams. It won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival in September 2022, and received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics.

Summary
Prohibited by the government from making films and from leaving Iran, owing to his politically critical movies, filmmaker Jafar Panahi—playing a fictionalized version of himself—has rented a room at the village of Jaban, near Turkey's border, where he is remotely directing a docudrama about an Iranian couple, Bakhtiar and Zara, who are attempting to secure fake passports so they can flee the country after years of government abuse. Bakhtiar has successfully acquired a passport for Zara but couldn't get one for himself, which distresses Zara. While watching the sequence through a livestream on his computer, Panahi loses connection and is cut out. Panahi wraps up for the day and goes out to photograph the village.

At night, Reza, Panahi's assistant director, appears at Jafar’s place and takes him on a drive. Reza says that the cast and crew, himself included, are growing weary of Panahi's absence and informs Panahi that he has arranged with people smugglers to take him to Turkey for a few days. Reza takes Panahi to the border line between Iran and Turkey. Panahi gets scared, and drives back to Jaban. As he arrives at the village, he's approached by a young woman, Gozal, who desperately asks Panahi if he took a photo of her with her boyfriend, Solduz, saying that should anyone see it "all hell will break loose" and "there will be blood".

The next day, Panahi is visited by three villagers. He's asked about the pictures he took, and is told about a tradition in the village: when a girl is born, her umbilical cord is cut in the name of her future husband. He says Gozal's was cut for Jacob, who's expecting to marry her soon, but that Solduz is barring that from happening. The villager says Solduz's father is offended and feeling dishonored by the accusation, and asks for the photo so Solduz's father will intervene and keep his son away from Gozal. Panahi denies ever taking a picture of Gozal and Solduz together. That night, he's visited by Solduz, who explains to him that he and Gozal are in love and that in a week's time they will elope and leave the village.

Meanwhile, back in Turkey, Bakhtiar tells Panahi that he'll be able to acquire a fake passport for himself too. The next day, the villagers grow more stressed over the photo situation. One of the little boys that Panahi photographed gives an account of the moment, saying that Panahi indeed photographed Gozal and Solduz together. Panahi denies it once again, showing the digital images on his camera to everyone and giving the camera's memory card to Jaban's sheriff. Unconvinced, the villagers ask Panahi to go to their swearing room and swear to God that he did not take the picture or see Gozal and Solduz together.

On his way to the swearing, he's approached by a villager who warns him that there are bears on the path and that he shouldn't go by himself. He invites Panahi for tea. The villager tells Panahi that he doesn't have to swear the truth, and that a lie is permissible if it brings peace to everyone. The villager explains that while town people like Panahi have a problem with authorities, villagers have a problem with superstition. They leave the house and as they separate at a fork in the road, the villager says that there are no bears; the stories are made up to scare people.

At the swearing room, Panahi is asked to swear over the Quran, but he proposes instead to film his oath and give a copy to everyone. Jacob objects angrily when Panahi tells the camera that he can't understand the traditions of the village, like cutting a baby girl's umbilical cord in the name of a future husband. A heated discussion ensues, and the impasse continues.

In Turkey, Bakhtiar and Zara say their goodbyes as prepare to leave for Paris after Bakhtiar secured his passport from a smuggler. Zara interrupts the shooting and starts to address Panahi, who's watching the livestream, directly to the camera. She says the movie is supposed to be all reality, but that Bakhtiar is lying: his passport is a prop and invalid. She'd have to leave alone, which she refuses to do. Zara becomes enraged, recalling all the abuse and torture she has endured for ten years. She leaves the shooting. Later, Panahi is informed that Zara is missing. Bakhtiar goes on a bender. Inebriated, he says his lie has destroyed Zara more than all the government abuses; that she has attempted suicide twice, and he fears for her safety. The next day on the shore, they find the body of a woman who has committed suicide by drowning herself. As Bakhtiar desperately recognizes the body as Zara's, Panahi calls cut.

Panahi's landlord, Ghanbar, tells him the whole photo turmoil has become unbearable and the police and Revolutionary Guards are now involved, and asks Panahi to leave the village. On his way out, Panahi passes through a commotion of people around a dead body. Ghanbar informs Panahi that Gozal and Solduz were both shot and killed while trying to cross the border. Panahi starts to drives away and then abruptly pulls the hand brake before the scene cuts.

Production
No Bears is the ninth feature film directed by Jafar Panahi and the first one since 3 Faces (2018). This filmmaker had made two short films in between. In addition to writing, directing and producing No Bears, Panahi also stars in the film with Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobasri, Bakhtiar Panjei, Mina Khosravani, and others. Panahi is said to have received more freedom to produce the film after the end of the curfew imposed in 2022, due to the spread of Covid-19 in Iran.

Production wrapped in May 2022, and the rights were traded shortly after at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival by Paris-based Celluloid Dreams, which had undertaken the same task for the director's previous works. The film is dedicated to Celluloid Dreams founder Hengameh Panahi.

Director's arrest
On July 11, 2022, Panahi was arrested and sentenced to six years in Evin prison on the charges of "propaganda against the regime". According to Panahi, after the arrest of his two colleagues, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mustafa Al-Ahmad, he had expressed solidarity, along with several hundred other filmmakers, over the Internet; they are said to have demonstrated online against the police brutality in Iran.

After No Bears was selected for the Golden Lion competition of the Venice Film Festival, the Ministry of Culture of the Islamic Republic of Iran called the film a "political game [rather than a] movie [that] does not have a production license". On July 28, 2022, the Iranian Film Directors Association issued an official statement congratulating the selected directors for the nomination, and moreover demanding that the Iranian government consider "the request of 19 cinema guilds, and hundreds of cinematographers [to] examine the status of these filmmakers, and their release as soon as possible".

It is reported that the 79th Venice Film Festival has been significantly affected by the arrest and trial of Panahi; Alberto Barbera, the artistic director of the said festival, after announcing the list of films in a media event, demanded the release of directors Panahi, Rasoulov and Al-Ahmad. He later called on "all filmmakers and other personalities" to join a flash mob that will take place on the red carpet before the premiere on September 9 at 16:30 at the Palazzo del Cinema, to protest Panahi's arrest and to show solidarity with others from around the world who have faced persecution in the same way.

Release
No Bears had its world premiere in-competition at the 79th Venice International Film Festival for the Golden Lion, on 9 September 2022. Another screening of the film was scheduled for the same month at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.

Accolades
Panahi competed for the Golden Lion, the main prize of the Venice Film Festival for the second time; he first received this award for his movie The Circle (2000). No Bears won the Special Jury Prize with actors Mina Kavani and Reza Heydari accepting the award in Panahi's absence.