International film critics have got on board Jafar Panahi‘s Taxi.
The Fipresci film critics association has picked the latest feature from the Iranian director, who remains prolific despite being officially banned from making movies, as the best film in competition at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.
Taxi also scooped Berlin’s top prize, the Golden Bear, at the festival’s award ceremony Feb. 14.
Panahi shot Taxi in secret. The film takes place entirely in a taxi cab, with Panahi himself playing the driver, picking up passengers on the streets of Tehran.
Another Iranian drama, A Minor Leap Down from director Hamed Rajabi, won Fipresci’s prize for best film in Berlin’s Panorama section. A directorial debut, the feature looks at Iran’s middle class through the story of a woman silently grieving after a miscarriage. The Fipresci prize for best film in Berlin’s Forum sidebar went to Hand Gestures, Francesco Clerici‘s documentary look at a Milan bronze factory.
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