Panahi’s Disagreement

Following discussion of the particularities of the Panahi case and the cultural specificity of the film, I engage with This is Not a Film in the context of what Rancière describes as ‘suitable political art’ (2004: 63), making the case that Panahi’s non-film – his, as he describes it, “effort” – constitutes a form of political subjectification. I explore what I refer to as an ‘aesthetic of effort’, tracing the lineage of domesticity, self-reflexivity and the long-take in relation to discourses of political filmmaking.