Taxi Teheran

A taxi with an unusual driver drives through the streets of Tehran. It is Jafar Panahi himself who is behind the wheel, filming with his camera. Among others, he drives a fan who sells pirated copies of current Hollywood films, two old women with a goldfish, and his niece, who is supposed to realise a film project for school. Conversations arise with his guests about punishment, morality, art – and, at the latest when human rights activist Nasrin Sotudeh gets in, about survival under the mullah regime. The format makes TAXI more light-hearted than its predecessors, but by no means more harmless. Behind the (apparent) improvisation, the film exposes social fault lines. Cinema that emerges in passing – and lingers all the more persistently.
(Florian Widegger)