Janus Contemporaries: No Bears

Discuss releases in the Janus Contemporaries, Eclipse, and Essential Art House lines and the films on them.
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yoloswegmaster
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:57 pm

Re: Janus Films

#2 Post by yoloswegmaster » Wed Sep 28, 2022 10:53 am

Great get! I wonder if Criterion are going to release a Panahi set since we also know that they have the rights to his first 2 films.

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FrauBlucher
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:28 pm
Location: Greenwich Village

Re: Janus Films

#3 Post by FrauBlucher » Mon Dec 05, 2022 5:09 pm

Jafar Panahi's No Bears ... I expect a CC release sooner rather than later

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hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

No Bears (Jafar Panahi, 2022)

#4 Post by hearthesilence » Sat Dec 10, 2022 10:34 pm

This doesn't open in the U.S. until Christmas, but it's had some festival screenings (NYFF) and some previews including one that just happened today at MoMA. The most powerful film I've seen all year and I doubt anything else due to come out will top it. The timing made it especially potent since the warped definition of "religious freedom" in the U.S. has been a constant topic of conversation for the past week, specifically imposing backward ideas on to the rest of the populace with brutal force. What made this a great film was how Panahi wove that context into his actions as a filmmaker. Like the best work of his late friend and occasional collaborator Abbas Kiarostami, it does an incredible job of self-interrogation, weighing the ethical and moral implications of filmmaking, and it does so with an incredibly warm sense of humanity, even when the story takes its harrowing turns. It really left me shaken and filled with great sadness that Panahi is still behind bars. I really hope he gets some prominent recognition in the U.S. over the next few months - the work alone deserves it, but the bravery he's displayed throughout his career has been truly humbling.

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dwk
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 6:10 pm

Re: The Criterion Channel -- Film and Content Discussion

#5 Post by dwk » Thu Apr 13, 2023 3:37 pm

No Bears is getting added to the Criterion Channel on April 18th.

kekid
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:55 pm

Re: The Films of 2022

#6 Post by kekid » Mon Aug 21, 2023 1:48 pm

zedz wrote:
Tue Aug 08, 2023 4:49 pm
No Bears (Jafar Panahi) – This might be my favourite of Panahi’s post-filmmaker films to date, a very clever self-reflexive film in which fiction turns out to be fact and vice versa, all while gently prodding his own privileged (if compromised) position. If it’s not quite as dizzyingly layered as classics like Close-Up or A Moment of Innocence, it’s nonetheless a pleasure seeing Iranian cinema get back to those qualities of 4-D bafflement.
I saw Jafar Panahi's "Taxi" and "No Bears" over last couple of days.
Both films, especially "No Bears", have the documentary feel.
I was wondering, how was "No Bears" made? Is there a cameraman we don't see, or is there a setup whereby what Jafar is going through is recorded?
I am especially thinking of the episode where a crew-member takes him to the border, but Panahi walks back. How did that get recorded? How did the "swearing" episode get recorded?
This is especiallly of interest because he was under constant watch by the government.
I found both films deeply moving, and recommend them to whoever has not seen them.

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