Film Reviews: This Is Not a Film (12A), The Island President (PG)

Since A Separation won the Oscar for best foreign film, there’s never been more interest in Iranian cinema, so it’s ironic that one of the country’s most inventive auteurs resorted to smuggling his latest work out of Iran on a memory stick hidden in a cake. After expressing support for the country’s opposition, Jafar Panahi was banned from moviemaking for 20 years. This Is Not A Film follows one claustrophobic day in 2011 when the filmmaker, under house arrest, makes phonecalls to his family and his lawyer, plays clips of his old films, plans a movie he may never be allowed to complete, interviews the building’s handyman, and watches the rest of the country celebrate New Year from his balcony. The film is never directly confrontational – it certainly eschews diatribes against the current regime – but its point about repressing the natural urge to tell stories is forcefully made.

Glasgow Film Theatre, until 19 April

The Island President (PG)

***

The Maldives number around 1,200 islands, but global warming could reduce them to a handful if the sea level rises any further – with other low-lying nations to follow. In Jon Shenk’s documentary, the Maldives’ President Mohamed Nasheed has been energetically warning of the threat to his pristine tropics, appealing for a reduction in carbon emissions, petitioning the UN for reforms, and organising witty media stunts, such holding one of his cabinet meetings underwater.

Events have slightly overtaken the film – a coup forced Nasheed to resign on 7 February – and Shenk leaves you wanting to know more about the underlying complexities of this charismatic politician. Even so, this is an absorbing portrait of a man trying to turn a tide of indifference.

Glasgow Film Theatre, Tuesday; Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Friday until 19 April