Starting in a hospital and ending in a prison, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s 2000 The Circle follows a succession of everyday women navigating oppressive institutions.
Jonathan Rosenbaum called it “such a scorching look at what women put up with in their daily lives that it’s no surprise it was banned in his native country.”
Running afoul the Iranian regime once again, the iconoclastic director was convicted in December along with fellow filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof of producing antigovernment propaganda, sentenced to six years in prison, and banned for 20 years from filmmaking, screenwriting, international travel, and granting news interviews.
Facets Cinematheque joins the international movement to free the filmmakers, with a free screening of The Circle Sunday 1/16 at 1 p.m. at Facets Cinematheque, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. DePaul University international studies assistant professor Kaveh Ehsani introduces the screening.