In December 2010, the film-makers and pro-democracy activists Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof were sentenced to six years in prison for alleged crimes against national security.

Jafar Panahi – the director of The White Balloon, Crimson Gold and Offside – was also subject to a 20-year ban on film-making, and forbidden moreover to give interviews or leave the country in that period.

However, while pursuing his appeal, and confined to his apartment under effective house arrest, Panahi managed to make this gripping, zero-budget film about a day in his life, shot entirely within his flat, partly on a simple DV camera and on his iPhone.

This Is Not a Film is a compelling personal document, a quietly passionate statement of artistic intent, and an uncompromising testament to his belief in cinema.