Jafar Panahi

Jafar Panahi is one of the world's most celebrated and politically significant filmmakers, born in Mianeh, Iran in 1960. A protégé of Abbas Kiarostami, Panahi won the Caméra d'Or at Cannes for his debut feature The White Balloon (1995) and has since produced an extraordinary series of films recognised worldwide for their humanist vision, formal innovation, and moral courage. Repeatedly imprisoned and banned from filmmaking by the Iranian government, Panahi has continued to create films clandestinely — including This Is Not a Film, Closed Curtain, and No Bears (which won the Jury Prize at Venice 2022) — making him a global symbol of artistic freedom and resistance. The screening of his work at the Georghios Lykourgos Municipal Theatre of Larnaca was a culturally significant event for Cyprus's film community.