NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Janus Contemporaries Blu-ray (October 2023): Janus Contemporaries have transferred Jafar Panahi's No Bears to Blu-ray. "Janus Contemporaries releases Blu-ray and DVD editions of first-run films, fresh from theaters, in association with Criterion." The first slate offered Jafar Panahi's No Bears, Jerzy Skolimowski EO and Louis Garrel's The Innocent. This 1080P image quality is excellent because it is: a) a modern film and b) has a max'ed out bitrate on a dual-layered disc. Colors appear accurately rendered, detail is pleasing, there is depth and the overall image quality is clean and consistent.

NOTE: We have added 36 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Janus Contemporaries use a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track (24-bit) in the original Farsi language. There is also some Turkish (it was shot in Turkey) and Azerbaijani spoken. No Bears has few separations and no demonstrative onscreen violence. So the track is not pushed extensively and handles all the film exports with ease. There is no score with close ties to reality and only some brief diegetic music (street musicians etc.). Janus Contemporaries offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Janus Contemporaries Blu-ray offers a new 18-minute interview with filmmaker Ramin Bahrani about director Jafar Panahi’s work entitled On Panahi’s Films, plus there is an audio message from the director speaking from prison. Lastly is a trailer and there is a liner notes leaflet with an essay by Michael Joshua Rowin and color photos.

No Bears is written, directed, produced and starring Jafar Panahi, who is commonly associated with the Iranian New Wave film movement. He is also notable as working as an assistant director for Abbas Kiarostami (Through the Olive Trees) before finding his own directorial success. No Bears is Panahi's ninth feature - his first one since 2018's 3 Faces. On July 11th, 2022, after production, Panahi was arrested and sentenced to 6 years in Evin prison (Tehran, Iran) on the charges of "propaganda against the regime". No Bears deals with irrational dogma-entrenched oppression. The film intelligently exposes unreasonable and illogical manifestations in subjectively following traditional precepts. This is reminiscent of the director's 2006 film Offside about female football (soccer) fans barred from entry to matches on the basis of their gender. Janus Contemporaries bring another wonderful world cinema masterwork to Blu-ray in their initial offering of this appreciated new sub-label. Absolutely recommended!

Gary Tooze