Panahi "Film" sold at TIFF

Aside from the glitz and parties and nonstop illusions, sometimes a film festival, and a film, can, in some small way, change the world. The independent distributor Palisades Tartan picked up the latest work by the incarcerated and banned Iranian filmmaker, Jafar Panahi. Back in December the Islamic Republic sentenced Panahi to six years in prison and banned him from making films for 20 years for the obscure crime of “assembly and colluding with the intention to com­mit crimes against the country’s national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.” Which may be why he titles his new, homemade movie, shot on the sly on an iPhone, about a day in his life making phone calls and waiting to learn news of his latest appeal to the court, "This Is Not a Film."