Banned both from filmmaking and from leaving the country, a renowned Iranian director embarks on the nearly impossible task of making his latest film in Turkey, spending his days and nights in a remote village beside the Turkish border as close as possible to his film set inside Turkey, trying to direct the film remotely from the border using just unreliable phone calls.
As he struggles to have some control over his cast and crew without being physically present on his own film set, two parallel love stories, one between his two main cast members and one in the village where he is staying drastically disrupt the course of events in his profoundly self-reflective journey.
This latest masterpiece by the most prolific and controversial figure of Iranian cinema taps into the well-known Iranian filmmaking strategy which has been apparent for decades: the need to evade censorship with complexity and ambiguity in tackling contemporary political issues. This is a heartfelt statement of intent from a director imprisoned by the Iranian judiciary but determined to keep the cameras rolling.

Widely identified with the Iranian New Wave film movement, Jafar Panahi achieved international recognition with his feature film debut, The White Balloon which premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and quickly established him as one of the most influential filmmakers in Iran.
Although his films were often banned in his own country, he continued to receive universal international acclaim and won numerous awards, including the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival for The Mirror, the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for The Circle, the Un Certain Regard award for Crimson Gold at Cannes, the Silver Bear at the Berlinale for Offside and the Golden Bear at the Berlinale for Taxi Tehran. His films are known for their humanistic perspective on life in Iran, often focusing on the hardships of children, the impoverished, and women.
After several years of conflict with the Iranian government over his films, Panahi was arrested and charged with propaganda against the Iranian government in 2010 and was sentenced to a six-year jail sentence and a 20-year ban on directing films, writing screenplays or giving any form of interview with Iranian or foreign media. Since then and despite all the restrictions imposed on him, he has refused to accept the charges against him and has made 5 feature films which have all been internationally acclaimed. No Bears is his latest film which has picked up some of the most prestigious awards in the world including the special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival as well as the award for cinematic bravery at the Chicago international film festival.