This is Not a Film is a day-in-the-life documentary of Jafar Panahi's experience of being under house arrest, filmed almost entirely inside his apartment in Tehran, as he creatively expresses his frustration of not being allowed to do what comes so naturally to this passionate writer and filmmaker: make films. Jafar Panahi, the Iranian writer and director of internationally acclaimed films such as The White Balloon, The Circle, and Offside, is under house arrest and a twenty year ban on making films, leaving Iran, and talking to the media. This is Not a Film is a courageous effort by Panahi and his co-director Motjaba Mirtahmasb to fight against censorship and for the human rights of not only his colleagues in the Iranian film industry, but of filmmakers everywhere.

Acclaimed filmmaker Jill Godmilow will be in attendance to introduce this program. Godmilow has earned a substantial reputation during more than four decades of film and video making. She is considered one of the primary practitioners in the American non-fiction genre. Since 1973 her films have been screened internationally, including at the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

NYTimes review of This Is Not A Film:

http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/movies/hes-jafar-panahi-but-this-is-not-a-film.html

March 27 through April 1, 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the longest running independent and experimental film festival in North America. The festival will present over 40 programs with close to 200 films over the six-day event.