On May 28, 1995, a 34-year-old Iranian filmmaker stepped on stage during the Cannes Film Festival's closing ceremony to receive the Camera d'Or, the festival's award for best first film. Jafar Panahi could not have imagined that the next time his name would be mentioned on stage at the Cannes' Grand Theatre Lumiere, he would be a political prisoner in one of Tehran's most notorious jails. Last year, a continent away, French actress Juliette Binoche pleaded for his release in her acceptance speech for the best actress award she won for her role in Certified Copy, a film directed by Panahi's mentor, Abbas Kiarostami.
The White Balloon conquered Cannes 16 years ago with its engaging portrayal of a seven-year-old girl's struggle to bring a new goldfish home. While the film thrives on a screenplay by Kiarostami and a stunning performance from Aida Mohammadkhani (pictured) in the lead role, Panahi's delicate mise en scene makes everything click together. But several of his subsequent films, while winning acclaim and awards overseas, were banned at home including 2000's The Circle, 2003's Crimson Gold and 2006's Offside.
Then came Panahi's support for the pro-democracy Green Movement, and his well-documented arrest and detention in 2009 and 2010. He was finally sentenced to six years in prison last December for 'assembly and colluding with the intention to commit crimes against the country's national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic [of Iran]'. The decree was met with widespread condemnation.
The White Balloon is mostly seen as a film about children - and that's how it made its way into the Film Archive's Through the Innocent Eyes programme, which runs from tomorrow until June 25. By depicting how outsiders are treated in Iranian society, the film paves the way for the portrayal of social oppression in Iran in Panahi's later films - and acts as a chilly foreboding of how the director would later be cast out.
The White Balloon, June 11, 5pm, Space Museum; June 18, 5pm, Film Archive