Born in 1960, Jafar Panahi is a director and writer representing the Iranian New Wave film movement. He became internationally recognized with his debut feature film, The White Balloon (1995), which won the Caméra d′Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He continued to achieve high acclaim in the international film community with his following films, including, The Mirror (1997), which received the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival; The Circle (2000), which received the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival; Taxi (2015), which received the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival; and 3 Faces (2018), which received the Best screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival, among many others. Although he is banned from filmmaking in his own country by the government, his passion for cinema never stops. His latest film, No Bears, has been invited to the Venice International Film Festival to compete, and to the Toronto International Film Festival to screen.