Closed Curtain

Fact, fiction and metafiction intertwine in Jafar Panahi’s mysterious dream set beside the Caspian seaside.

Mirroring the confines of Jafar Panahi’s own house arrest, Closed Curtain follows a screenwriter and his dog, both on the run from authorities, as they barricade themselves in a beachside house. However, their isolation is soon disrupted when the outside world begins to creep in – at first through an alarming news report, and then when two strangers burst in.

Curator's note

Roughly two years after his arrest and imprisonment, when Closed Curtain had secretly gone into production, director Jafar Panahi was still under house arrest and banned from filmmaking.  He had appealed his sentence, but the court had upheld its decision. 

Delving into more conventional storytelling, although by no means a conventional film, Jafar Panahi’s second film since his imprisonment feels like both a continuation of his previous This is Not a Film and a dangerous expansion.

The film made its world premiere at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear for Best Script.

Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)