The Uncaged Lens: Jafar Panahi's Defiant Cinema

Panahi’s early filmography consistently focused on the vulnerable and marginalized in Iranian society. His second film, The Mirror (1997), continued to use a young girl as a central figure, exploring themes of reality and artifice when the protagonist suddenly breaks the fourth wall, tired of acting, and attempts to find her own way home. This early introduction of meta-cinematic elements foreshadowed his later, more politically-charged work that would directly confront the boundaries of filmmaking itself.