Like the best Iranian directors who have won acclaim on the world stage, Panahi evokes humanitarianism in an unsentimental, realistic fashion, without necessarily overriding political and social messages.

His sisters were not allowed to leave their family home and Panahi often had to hide from his father at the local movie theaters.

Starting at the age of twelve, Panahi would work after school in order to afford to go see films.

After completing his military service, Panahi enrolled at the College of Cinema and TV in Tehran, where he studied filmmaking and especially appreciated the works of film directors Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Luis Buñuel and Jean-Luc Godard.

Panahi was most concerned about Mohammadkhani being able to cry on cue, so he would have her stare at him off camera while he started to cry, causing her to cry.

The film premiered in competition at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival, where Panahi was awarded with the Silver Bear Jury Grand Prix.

Panahi has referred to the situation in Iran as " the dark ages for filmmaking in Iran " and that he was " presenting the future with something to see, a document of what life was like at that time.

On April 15, 2001 Panahi flew from Hong Kong on route to Buenos Aires in order to participate in a film festival and had a stopover at JFK International Airport in New York City.

On 30 July 2009, Mojtaba Saminejad, an Iranian blogger and human rights activist writing from inside Iran, reported that Panahi was arrested at the cemetery in Tehran where mourners had gathered near the grave of Neda Agha-Soltan.

In September 2009 Panahi traveled to Montreal to act as the Head of the Jury at the 2009 Montreal World Film Festival.

On May 18, 2010, J. Hoberman at VoiceFilm. com reported that an unconfirmed announcement indicated the Iranian regime would release Panahi to coincide with the public screening of another Iranian film at the festival, Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy.

Panah Panahi attended the University of Tehran and in 2009 made his first short film, The First Film, which was screened at the 2009 Montreal World Film Festival.

* Best International Film Award: Jafar Panahi, The White Balloon

The Academy refused to withdraw the film, which was not nominated, and Panahi was forbidden by the Iranian government to travel to the Sundance Film Festival or to participate in phone interviews with US reporters to promote the film.

Panahi was inspired to make the film when while attending the 1996 Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea he noticed a young girl sitting alone on a park bench staring blankly into space, and realized that he had seen this same thing countless times in Iran and never paid attention to it.

In 2000 Panahi made The Circle, produced by Jafar Panahi Film Productions and Mikado-Lumiere & Co.

In the middle of the controversy and court appeal, Panahi broke the ban imposed on him from making films and made the documentary feature This Is Not a Film in 2011 in collaboration with Iranian filmmaker Mojtaba Mirtahmasb.

After several years of making short films and working as an assistant director for fellow Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, Panahi first achieved international recognition with his feature film debut The White Balloon in 1995.

Panahi has stated that his father told him "' These films are not good for you to see.

Panahi made several short documentary films for Iranian television through the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting's Channel 2.

In the film, Panahi documented a mourning ceremony for the third Shiite Imam, Imam Hossein, where people hit their heads with knives until they bled.

Panahi had to shoot in secret and the film was banned for several years.

Inspired by a story of a young Luis Buñuel once contacting successful film director Jean Epstein to ask for a job in filmmaking, Panahi left a message on Abbas Kiarostami's answering machine, stating that he loved his films and asking for any job on his next film.

Kiarostami hired Panahi as his assistant director for the film Through the Olive Trees.

Panahi worked closely with Mohammadkhani, gaining her trust and acting out each scene for her to mimic while still adding her own personality to the performance.

Initially Panahi was going to direct Kiarostami's script for Willow and Wind, but he decided to pursue his own work instead.

Panahi was extremely moved by the story and Kiarostami agreed to write the script for him to direct.

However before they began shooting the Ministry of Guidance, which issues licenses for films to be shown publicly, told Panahi in advance that because of his past films they would not issue Offside a license until he re-edited his previous films.

As usual, Panahi cast non-professional actors for the film, and the group of young girls in the lead roles were mostly university students that Panahi found through friends who all were passionate fans of football.

The film was shot in 39 days and in order to move unnoticed through large crowds Panahi used digital video for the first time so as to have a smaller, more inconspicuous camera.

Panahi had already set up distribution for the film all over Iran and the film was predicted to break all Box Office records.

In 2003 Panahi was arrested and interrogated for four hours by the Information Ministry in Iran, but was eventually released after being encouraged to move out of Iran.

On 12 November 2010, Panahi was back in court for his hearing.

On 20 December 2010 Panahi, after being prosecuted for “ assembly and colluding with the intention to commit crimes against the country ’ s national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic ,” was handed a six-year jail sentence and a 20-year ban on making or directing any movies, writing screenplays, giving any form of interview with Iranian or foreign media as well as leaving the country.

Cine Foundation International, a " non-profit film company and human rights NGO aiming to ' empower open consciousness through cinema '" announced on 3 January 2011 that they are launching a campaign of protest films and public actions calling for the release of Panahi.

Later in January, CFI deployed a video protest mechanism called WHITE MEADOWS ( named for the Mohammad Rasoulof film, The White Meadows, which was edited by Panahi ) and developed by Ericson deJesus ( of Yahoo!

Kiarostami also helped Panahi secure funding from IRIB's Channel 2.

Panahi also officially listed his Assistant Director as the Director of the film so as to not attract the attention of the Ministry of Guidance or the Disciplinary Forces of Tehran, but towards the end of the films shooting a newspaper article about the making of the film listed Panahi as the director and both organizations attempted to shut the film down and confiscate the footage.

Author Hamid Dabashi has called Panahi the least self-conscious filmmaker in the history of Iranian film and that his films represent a post-revolutionary Iranian outlook on itself, calling Crimson Gold not just a history of a failed jewelry robbery, " but also history of recent Iranian history, the history of the failed Islamic revolution and the Iran-Iraq war in particular.

It will be produced by Hengameh Panahi of Celluloid Dreams and Isa Dick Hackett, of Electric Shepherd Productions.

and collaborator Serj Tankian of System of a Down dedicated the production to eight Amnesty International cases: David Kato, Norma Cruz, Jafar Panahi, Dhondup Wangchen, Tran Quoc Hien, Doan Van Dien, Doan Huy Chuong, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Reggie Clemons, and survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Filmmakers from the Iranian New Wave such as Dariush Mehrjui and Jafar Panahi have cited the film as an important influence on their work.

Jafar Panahi (; born July 11, 1960 Meyaneh, East Azarbaijan ) is an Iranian film director, screenwriter and film editor most commonly associated with the Iranian New Wave film movement.

Panahi was quickly recognized as one of the most influential filmmakers in Iran.

Author Hamid Dabashi has said that " Panahi does not do as he is told — in fact he has made a successful career in not doing as he is told.

After several years of conflict with the Iranian government over the content of his films ( including several short-term arrests ), Panahi was arrested in March 2010 along with his wife, daughter and 15 friends and was later charged with committing propaganda against the Iranian government.

Despite support from filmmakers, film organizations and human rights organizations from around the world, in December 2010 Panahi was sentenced to a six-year jail sentence and a 20-year ban on directing any movies, writing screenplays, giving any form of interview with Iranian or foreign media and from leaving the country.

Panahi was born in Mianeh, Iran, an Azerbaijani area outside of Tehran.

" One day his father caught him in a movie theater and Panahi was punished harshly.

One film that had a lasting impression on Panahi was Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves.

Panahi has said that when he first saw this film he thought to himself " here is a film that does not lie to me.

" At the same time Panahi began experimenting with photography and making short films with an 8mm film camera, acting in one film and assisting Kanoon's library director in running a program that taught children how to operate a film camera.

At the age of twenty Panahi was drafted into the Iranian army and served in the Iran – Iraq War, working as an army cinematographer from 1980 until 1982.

In 1988 Panahi shot the short film The Second Look ( Negah-E Dovom ), a behind the scenes documentary on the making of Kambuzia Partovi's film Golnar.