The Uncaged Lens: Jafar Panahi's Defiant Cinema

Jafar Panahi is one of the most significant and internationally acclaimed Iranian film directors, screenwriters, and editors of his generation. Born on July 11, 1960, in Mianeh, Iran, Panahi emerged in the mid-1990s as a key figure in the Iranian New Wave cinema movement, following in the footsteps of his mentor, the late Abbas Kiarostami. His early works quickly established a style marked by neorealism, humanistic concerns, and a keen eye for the everyday struggles of ordinary Iranians, particularly the marginalized.