The Circle
Jafar Panahi Iran, Italy 2000 90 min PG
The stories of Iranian women intersect to reveal the brutal realities of a society that denies them agency.
In the oppressive sociopolitical climate of contemporary Tehran, the intersecting experiences of a group of Iranian women form a mosaic of struggle, resistance and quiet resilience. What starts as a glimpse into the lives of the women fleeing the law expands into a chilling portrait of systemic entrapment. Following one character to the next, from hidden alleys to suffocating hospitals, the film lays bare the fear, uncertainty and desperation that punctuate their lives as each decision seems to only lead to further limitations.
Though forced to survive in unforgiving structures of law and tradition, beneath the women’s struggles lies the endurance of the human spirit. The Circle is a provocative exploration of the implications of a system designed to suppress female autonomy.
8 Dec, Sun 2:00PM / 108 min
Oldham Theatre
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The Circle
دایره
Jafar Panahi
Iran, Italy
2000
Farsi
English
90 min
PG
Jafar Panahi
Jafar Panahi is an Iranian filmmaker who has won numerous accolades including the Berlinale’s Golden Bear for Taxi (2015) and Cannes’ Best Screenplay for Three Faces (2018). His films often adopt a humanistic and neorealist style to portray Iranian society. The explicitness of his social critique has incurred the government’s ire, for which he has been imprisoned and placed under house arrest.
Mohammad Atebbai,
Morteza Motavali,
Jafar Panahi
Nargess Mamizadeh,
Maryiam Palvin Almani,
Mojgan Faramarzi
The Circle & Hidden
