Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has won the prestigious Palme d’Or category for his movie It Was Just An Accident, at the 78th Cannes Film Festival 2025. The big win comes at a time when Iran is facing public outrage for the last few years right after the killing of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was taken into police custody for not wearing the mandatory hijab properly.
In his speech on Saturday, Jafar Panahi called for unity among all Iranians. He emphasized that everyone should enjoy freedom, no matter their differences.
It Was Just An Accident
It Was Just An Accident is a 2025 film written and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Jafar Panahi. The movie has won the prestigious Palme d’Or award for Cannes 2025.
Partly inspired by Panahi’s own time in prison, It Was Just An Accident tells the story of Vahid, a man who kidnaps someone with a prosthetic leg, someone who eerily resembles the man who once tortured him and destroyed his life.
Vahid seeks out other former prisoners to confirm whether the man he’s captured is truly their old torturer, before figuring out what to do next.
Critics have praised the film for its smart, symbolic take on justice, skillfully mixing dark humor with heavy, thought-provoking themes.
Jafar Panahi banned in Iran?
64 year old highly regarded filmmaker Jafar Panahi speaks with the audience through cinema. His films are marked as provocative by the Iranian regime, however, to many, it’s pure cinema. Panahi has been repeatedly arrested and imprisoned for questioning the government through his films.
Panahi also had a 15 year travel ban. The 78th Cannes film festival 2025marks his re-entry to the club after two decades. His last screened film was Crimson Gold 2003. He was banned from making films in 2010. However, Panahi used that time to write his own experience into a screenplay, not knowing that the film would win a Cannes award.
“Let’s set aside all problems, all differences. What matters most right now is our country and the freedom of our country,” he said.
Winners of cannes 2025
Among the notable award recipients this year were Nadia Melliti, who won Best Actress for The Little Sister and Wagner Moura, honored with Best Actor for his role in The Secret Agent. Kleber Mendonca Filho also received the Best Director award for the same film.
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