Closed Curtain

Persecuted Iranian director Jafar Panahi co-created this allegorical drama with Kambozia Partovi. The latter stars as a screenwriter who is holed up in his house, covering all the windows with dark draperies in order to hide his dog from authorities, who have declared that canines are filthy and a menace to Iranian society. As he lives a quiet life trying to write, a man and woman appear at his door one day. They claim the woman is a dissident and needs to hide from authorities, but the writer wonders if they themselves haven't been sent to take away his dog. Later, reality and drama intermingle when Panahi appears as himself. Panahi made the film despite being ordered by the Iranian government to cease his filmmaking. Closed Curtain played at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.