# Taxi (تاکسی) (2015 film)
**Taxi** (Persian: تاکسی; also released as *Taxi Tehran* or *Jafar Panahi's Taxi*) is a 2015 Iranian film directed by [Jafar Panahi](https://www.edgepedia.org/jafar-panahi), in which the banned filmmaker drives a yellow cab through the streets of Tehran for a single day, picking up a diverse group of passengers whose conversations form the film[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/jafarpanahistaxi). Panahi himself plays the driver, and the film was clandestinely shot almost entirely within a car[2](https://apnews.com/article/325b4ef247493bd7f948758eb5113acd). It won the [Golden Bear](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-bear), the top prize of the [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival), on February 14, 2015[3](https://www.screendaily.com/berlin-jafar-panahis-taxi-wins-golden-bear/5083299.article).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and lead | Jafar Panahi, who also wrote, produced, shot, and edited the film[4](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/) |
| Premise | Panahi drives a taxi through Tehran for one day, conversing with a cross section of passengers[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/jafarpanahistaxi) |
| Top award | Golden Bear, Berlin International Film Festival, February 14, 2015[3](https://www.screendaily.com/berlin-jafar-panahis-taxi-wins-golden-bear/5083299.article) |
| Other award | FIPRESCI Prize, Berlin competition program[4](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/) |
| Context | Third feature Panahi made after the Iranian authorities banned him from filmmaking at the end of 2010, following *This Is Not a Film* and *Closed Curtain*[3](https://www.screendaily.com/berlin-jafar-panahis-taxi-wins-golden-bear/5083299.article) |
| Runtime and premiere | 82 minutes; world premiere February 6, 2015[4](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/) |
| Box office | $3,906,227 worldwide, including $321,642 in the United States[4](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/) |
## Spoilers
### Premise and passengers
The film presents Panahi at the wheel of a taxi equipped with cameras, driving through Tehran and picking up passengers who talk with the driver about their lives and views[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/jafarpanahistaxi) • [4](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/). The passengers include a man who sells banned films illegally and recognizes the director; an injured motorcyclist and his wife, who fears losing her inheritance if he dies; Panahi's niece, who wants to make a film for a school project and asks her uncle for advice; a former neighbor who was robbed; elderly women carrying goldfish to release into a fountain; and the human rights lawyer [Nasrin Sotoudeh](https://www.edgepedia.org/nasrin-sotoudeh), on her way to visit a political prisoner[4](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/). In one scene Panahi trades accounts of interrogation with Sotoudeh, herself a former political prisoner[7](https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/10/jafar-panahi-accident-film/684647/).
The passengers were played by nonprofessional actors whose identities were not made public[4](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/). The film carries no credits, and Panahi, as performer, never takes the camera in his hands[4](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/).
## Background: the ban
At the end of 2010 the Iranian authorities banned Jafar Panahi from making films, and he was also barred from leaving the country and ordered to stop making films for 20 years[3](https://www.screendaily.com/berlin-jafar-panahis-taxi-wins-golden-bear/5083299.article) • [5](https://apnews.com/article/f0e8159ee247a7f66f35d5f67a931409). *Taxi* was his third feature made after the ban, following *[This Is Not a Film](https://www.edgepedia.org/this-is-not-a-film)* (2011), made in his living room on an iPhone, and *Closed Curtain*, which competed at Berlin in 2013[3](https://www.screendaily.com/berlin-jafar-panahis-taxi-wins-golden-bear/5083299.article) • [5](https://apnews.com/article/f0e8159ee247a7f66f35d5f67a931409). The New Zealand International Film Festival noted that for the third time since the ban was imposed he had managed to produce a work on a very small scale and get it out of Iran and into competition at a major international festival[6](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2015/archive/tehran-taxi/).
## Production methods
The film was clandestinely shot almost entirely within a car[2](https://apnews.com/article/325b4ef247493bd7f948758eb5113acd). To avoid attracting attention, no additional lighting could be used inside the taxi; instead Panahi cut a hole in the roof of the car to get enough light for filming[4](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/). The film was shot on the streets of Tehran[4](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/).
## Reception and awards
*Taxi* premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 6, 2015, and won the Golden Bear on February 14[4](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/) • [3](https://www.screendaily.com/berlin-jafar-panahis-taxi-wins-golden-bear/5083299.article). It also received the FIPRESCI Prize from international film critics in the competition program[4](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/). Because Panahi is forbidden to leave Iran, his niece Hana Saeidi, who appears in the film, accepted the Golden Bear on his behalf[4](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/).
Reactions differed. Critics in Europe and the United States generally welcomed the film, while some conservative media in Iran called it anti-Iranian[8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxq0oLoWb-w). A Persian-language Euronews commentary argued that, unlike the more improvisational *This Is Not a Film*, *Taxi Tehran* is a constructed fiction onto which the filmmaker's social and political ideas are imposed, a point one of the film's characters, the film pirate, raises in the film itself[9](https://parsi.euronews.com/2015/10/17/59th-londen-film-festival). The film was the only Iranian film at that year's London Film Festival[9](https://parsi.euronews.com/2015/10/17/59th-londen-film-festival).
## Place in Panahi's career
*Taxi* is one of a series of films Panahi made under restriction, each built around a constraint: *This Is Not a Film* in his apartment, *Closed Curtain* indoors, and *Taxi* inside a moving car[5](https://apnews.com/article/f0e8159ee247a7f66f35d5f67a931409) • [10](https://time.com/6242496/no-bears-review-jafar-panahi/). A conversation with a former prisoner later inspired a scene in the film, the exchange with Sotoudeh[7](https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/10/jafar-panahi-accident-film/684647/).
The film's success contributed to Panahi's standing among the most decorated working directors. In May 2025 he won the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor) at Cannes for *It Was Just an Accident*, and among the world's active filmmakers he is the only one to have won the top awards at all three major European festivals, Cannes, Berlin, and Venice[11](https://elpais.com/cultura/cine/2026-03-04/todo-lo-que-sabemos-de-iran-lo-conocemos-por-su-cine.html) • [12](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2025/05/25/jafar-panahi-wins-palme-d-or-at-a-politically-charged-cannes-festival_6741634_30.html).
## References
1. [Jafar Panahi's Taxi, Kino Lorber Theatrical](https://kinolorber.com/film/jafarpanahistaxi)
2. [Dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi wins Cannes' top prize, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/325b4ef247493bd7f948758eb5113acd)
3. [Berlin: Jafar Panahi's Taxi wins Golden Bear, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/berlin-jafar-panahis-taxi-wins-golden-bear/5083299.article)
4. [Такси (2015), Кинопоиск](https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/885646/)
5. [Jafar Panahi doesn't want to be called a hero. He just wants to make films, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/f0e8159ee247a7f66f35d5f67a931409)
6. [Tehran Taxi, New Zealand International Film Festival 2015](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2015/archive/tehran-taxi/)
7. [What an Iranian Filmmaker Learned In Prison, The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/10/jafar-panahi-accident-film/684647/)
8. [نگاهی به فیلم جعفر پناهی در جشنواره بینالمللی فیلم برلین, BBC Persian](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxq0oLoWb-w)
9. [از «زنان قدرتمند» تا «تاکسی تهران» در پنجاه و نهمین جشنواره فیلم لندن, Euronews Persian](https://parsi.euronews.com/2015/10/17/59th-londen-film-festival)
10. [Iranian Drama No Bears Shows an Artist Fighting Despair In the Face of Tyranny, Time](https://time.com/6242496/no-bears-review-jafar-panahi/)
11. [Irán: el país que Occidente conoció a través del cine, El País](https://elpais.com/cultura/cine/2026-03-04/todo-lo-que-sabemos-de-iran-lo-conocemos-por-su-cine.html)
12. [Jafar Panahi wins Palme d'Or at politically charged Cannes Festival, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/culture/article/2025/05/25/jafar-panahi-wins-palme-d-or-at-a-politically-charged-cannes-festival_6741634_30.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Documentary and biographical films › Biographical films of musicians, artists, and writers › Biographical films about writers and filmmakers*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license