Biography
Jafar Panahi is an Iranian film director, screenwriter and editor. He was born on 11 July 1960 in Mianeh, Iran. He studied at the College of Cinema and Television in Tehran and worked as an assistant director to Abbas Kiarostami on Through the Olive Trees (1994).
Panahi made his feature debut with The White Balloon (1995), on which he is also credited as editor, story writer and production designer. His subsequent films include The Circle (2000), Offside (2006), Taxi (2015), 3 Faces (2018), No Bears (2022) and It Was Just an Accident (2025).
In 2010 an Iranian court sentenced him to six years in prison and banned him from filmmaking for twenty years. He has continued to direct films despite the restrictions.
