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In 2010, Panahi was arrested for speaking out against the Iranian government and handed a six-year prison sentence.
After his appeals failed, he was placed under house arrest and given a 20-year filmmaking ban.
Each new effort seemed to push against his restrictions a bit more.
2011sThis Is Not a Filmwas basically a video journal shot in Panahis apartment.
2013sClosed Curtainwas an elliptical, paranoid drama filmed at his summer home.
Their situation could also be a projection of sorts.
The director asks Reza where the actual border is.
You are standing on it.
Exactly, the man says.
Startled, Panahi jumps back.
That awkward, frightened little leap back across the border hauntsNo Bears.
Hed get better reception back home in Tehran.
When asked about this, Panahi says he wants to be near his production.
But its also not hard to imagine Panahi might dream of escape.
He insists he doesnt, showing the villagers his camera roll and offering to give them his memory stick.
These men never actually accuse Panahi of anything.
Our fear empowers others.
Such customs and institutions, its clear, have long lost any meaning or real-life connection.
And, often, hes caught between the winds.
These movies tend toward chaos with the onscreen auteur left powerless, unable to change the world around him.
No Bearsmight well prove to be Panahis final film in this monumental cycle of self-reflective projects.
On one side of the camera, we have two lovers ready to escape their land.
