What makes Jafar Panahi return to Iran time and again, despite hostility?

“My chief concerns are social, and this is why my films are humanist rather than political.” — Jafar Panahi, Interviews

As acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi faces another prison sentence in Iran, the question extends beyond the suppression of artistic expression and dissident voices. It also calls for a closer examination of the narratives of resistance that Panahi has woven around the obstructions he has faced and the ethos that has consistently governed his choices: his underlying humanism and his commitment to the uncompromising expression of the social realities that surround him.

Born in July 1960 in the town of Mianeh, in Iran's East Azerbaijan province, Panahi has long been influenced by his compatriot Abbas Kiarostami, even serving as an assistant director on Kiarostami's Through the Olive Trees (1994). Panahi later noted:

“We were both non-commercial, humanist filmmakers. He was more interested in the poetic side of that humanist cinema and I was more interested in the social side of it.”

It is perhaps through this profound commitment to social humanism that we might seek to understand Panahi and his relationship with Iran, his homeland, with which he shares an intricate and often troubled bond. Despite garnering immense critical acclaim, Panahi has seen many of his films denied theatrical releases in his home country. He is one of only four filmmakers to have won the highest honour at each of the so-called 'Big Three' film festivals: Cannes, Berlin and Venice.

His directorial debut, The White Balloon (1995), written by Abbas Kiarostami, was warmly received in Iran and selected by the authorities as the country's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 68th Academy Awards. However, the authorities subsequently requested the withdrawal of the submission and barred Panahi from travelling to the United States to promote his film.

The Circle (2000), his third feature film, won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2000. It explores Iranian patriarchal society through multiple strands of women's lives. Maedeh, Nargess and Arezou are women trapped by their social circumstances, confronting the challenges of everyday life in Iran as they struggle to defy their predetermined fates under the ever-watchful gaze of the state and its machinery. Panahi makes it clear that women in Iran are already disadvantaged by the social structures within which they live.

Filmmaker and friend Babak Payami once observed that “Jafar Panahi is a filmmaker who lives his work and works his life into his art”. The film may also be understood in the context of the birth of Panahi's own daughter. Reflecting on the experience, Panahi recalls:

“The first woman I saw was my mother. She said, ‘Jafar, don't worry, it is not a shame, but you have a daughter’.”

The Circle remains banned in Iran. Rather than surrendering to the hopelessness of an overarching and domineering patriarchal structure, Panahi directs his humanist vision towards the dignity inherent in the struggles his characters endure. These struggles echo his own experiences as a human being and an artist in a country constrained by strict orthodox regulations.

Panahi's realism as an artist and his deep commitment to individuals and their everyday lives in Iran have naturally brought him into conflict with the Iranian government. In 2010, he was arrested and imprisoned at Evin Prison, one of Iran's most notorious prisons. He was subsequently released on bail after going on a hunger strike. Later that year, the Islamic Revolutionary Court imposed a 20-year ban on his filmmaking, writing screenplays and giving media interviews. He was also prohibited from leaving Iran, except for religious or medical reasons.

During the Iranian protests of 2025–26, Panahi also joined prominent Iranian intellectuals in protesting against the country's repressive response. Despite living under circumstances that can only be described as deeply complicated, Panahi has consistently refused to abandon Iran. Unlike some of his compatriots, such as Mohammad Rasoulof and Asghar Farhadi, who have lived and made films abroad, Panahi has remained committed to returning to Iran.

“I have no problem making a movie outside, but I would like to be able to come back to Iran. I would have a very hard time if I realized that I have to stay in exile and do not have the ability to come back to my own country,” the filmmaker notes.

Panahi's commitment lies in the social realities of the Iranian people, their everyday lives and the nuances that make each existence unique. It is here that Panahi resides as an artist. His distinctive vision draws him back time and again to his own country, his own space.

Films such as This Is Not a Film (2011), Closed Curtain (2013), Taxi (2015) and 3 Faces (2018) were made in defiance of the ban, with some produced clandestinely. In these films, the boundaries between reality and fiction blur as the camera observes life with an unflinching and uncompromising gaze. His work remains a search for truth, and within that search lies Panahi's artistic credo: his commitment to exploring the essence of his social reality and representing his country through an unwavering humanist vision.

As one elderly woman remarked to Panahi about The White Balloon, “I want to believe that Iran is this.” Perhaps this, too, is what Panahi continues to search for: his true Iran. In this choice to remain, to observe and to create despite the restrictions imposed upon him lies Panahi's distinctive form of resistance as an artist.