Tehran, Iran. From behind the wheel of his taxi, director Jafar Panahi drives through the animated streets of his city, picking up a variety of characters: a female teacher who argues with a stranger: a movie lover who sells pirated DVDs; a woman and her wounded husband; two older ladies and their goldfish; a militant human rights lawyer; and the filmmaker’s niece. The result is a full-spectrum portrait of Iranian society.

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It is impossible and even irresponsible to watch Jafar Panahi’s latest film without knowing something about his history and the conditions of his production. Targeted by the Iranian authorities in the wake of his movie The Circle, about the condition of women in Iran, and the winner of the 2000 Golden Lion in Venice Lion, the filmmaker has since been imprisoned, refused a visa when he was invited to be one the jury in Cannes, and finally banned from leaving the country, making movies or talking to the press. With his country now his prison, Panahi continues to make it his subject: with This is Not A Film, shot in his apartment and co-directed by Mojtaba Mirtahmasb; Closed Curtain, co-directed by; and now Taxi . He “brings the village to the taxi” in the form of amateur actors in this docu-fiction which is reminiscent of Abbas Kiarostami’s Ten, with which Panahi began his career. A bubble of freedom inside a restricted world, the taxi offers an insider’s look at today’s Iran. The absence of final credits, a terrifying illustration of the power held by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, deals a final blow and confirms the value of this film.