Amid conflict at home, Iranian director wins top prize at Sydney Film Festival
Amid turmoil in his home country, visiting Iranian director Jafar Panahi has won the 72nd Sydney Film Festival's $60,000 official competition with the thriller It Was Just an Accident.
Panahi, who stepped back from festival Q&As during the Israel-Iran conflict to stay in touch with family and friends, came to Sydney after winning the Palme d'Or, the major prize at Cannes, with the same film last month.
It is a tense and twisting story with a darkly comic edge about former political prisoners who discover their intelligence agent torturer, living as a civilian, and have to decide whether they want revenge.
Made in secret to avoid submitting the script to a government censor, it is a savage critique of repression and abusive power that was officially slammed in Iran after winning at Cannes, raising the prospect of further sanctions against a filmmaker who has already served jail time for 'creating propaganda against the system' and supporting anti-government protesters.
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The standout of the 12 films in a competition for 'audacious, courageous and cutting-edge' cinema, It Was Just an Accident was a deserving winner at a festival where Panahi was also the subject of a 10-film retrospective.
Australian director Justin Kurzel, who headed the jury, described it as 'a courageous film with a deep soul and a powerful sense of forgiveness' that had 'outstanding performances and an understated authority which is brimming with truth'.
Kurzel said that in times of conflict and uncertainty it was more important than ever that filmmakers had freedom to express what they saw around them.
'The films we watched led with empathy, compassion and kindness,' Kurzel said. 'The directors trusted that their stories would make us feel first, connect to a personal point of view; they were political, but human first.'
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Sydney Morning Herald
11 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Amid conflict at home, Iranian director wins top prize at Sydney Film Festival
Amid turmoil in his home country, visiting Iranian director Jafar Panahi has won the 72nd Sydney Film Festival's $60,000 official competition with the thriller It Was Just an Accident. Panahi, who stepped back from attending screenings during the Israel-Iran conflict to stay in touch with family and friends, came to Sydney after winning the Palme d'Or, the major prize at Cannes, with the same film last month. It is a tense and twisting story with a darkly comic edge about former political prisoners who discover their intelligence agent torturer, living as a civilian, and have to decide whether they want revenge. Made in secret to avoid submitting the script to a government censor, it is a savage critique of repression and abusive power that was officially slammed in Iran after winning at Cannes, raising the prospect of further sanctions against a filmmaker who has already served jail time for 'creating propaganda against the system' and supporting anti-government protesters. Loading The standout of the 12 films in a competition for 'audacious, courageous and cutting-edge' cinema, It Was Just an Accident was a deserving winner at a festival where Panahi was also the subject of a 10-film retrospective. Australian director Justin Kurzel, who headed the jury, described it as 'a courageous film with a deep soul and a powerful sense of forgiveness' that had 'outstanding performances and an understated authority which is brimming with truth'. Kurzel said that in times of conflict and uncertainty it was more important than ever that filmmakers had freedom to express what they saw around them. 'The films we watched led with empathy, compassion and kindness,' he said. 'The directors trusted that their stories would make us feel first, connect to a personal point of view; they were political, but human first.'
The Age
11 hours ago
- The Age
Amid conflict at home, Iranian director wins top prize at Sydney Film Festival
Amid turmoil in his home country, visiting Iranian director Jafar Panahi has won the 72nd Sydney Film Festival's $60,000 official competition with the thriller It Was Just an Accident. Panahi, who stepped back from festival Q&As during the Israel-Iran conflict to stay in touch with family and friends, came to Sydney after winning the Palme d'Or, the major prize at Cannes, with the same film last month. It is a tense and twisting story with a darkly comic edge about former political prisoners who discover their intelligence agent torturer, living as a civilian, and have to decide whether they want revenge. Made in secret to avoid submitting the script to a government censor, it is a savage critique of repression and abusive power that was officially slammed in Iran after winning at Cannes, raising the prospect of further sanctions against a filmmaker who has already served jail time for 'creating propaganda against the system' and supporting anti-government protesters. Loading The standout of the 12 films in a competition for 'audacious, courageous and cutting-edge' cinema, It Was Just an Accident was a deserving winner at a festival where Panahi was also the subject of a 10-film retrospective. Australian director Justin Kurzel, who headed the jury, described it as 'a courageous film with a deep soul and a powerful sense of forgiveness' that had 'outstanding performances and an understated authority which is brimming with truth'. Kurzel said that in times of conflict and uncertainty it was more important than ever that filmmakers had freedom to express what they saw around them. 'The films we watched led with empathy, compassion and kindness,' Kurzel said. 'The directors trusted that their stories would make us feel first, connect to a personal point of view; they were political, but human first.'
The Age
17 hours ago
- The Age
The highs and lows of the Sydney Film Festival
For once, the hype was justified. Australian director Michael Shanks' Together, which opened the 72nd Sydney Film Festival with high expectations after a stunning worldwide sale at Sundance, was an entertaining and polished body horror film about a couple whose lives get weird when they move to the country. Tim (Dave Franco) is a wannabe musician with commitment issues; Millie (Alison Brie) is a teacher who doesn't know whether to call him her boyfriend, partner or whatever. The distinctiveness of the characters, the wit and the clever way the body horror symbolised the couple's co-dependency show that Shanks - even if dogged by a copyright lawsuit - is a talent to watch. As he said in a post-film Q&A, the film has opened Hollywood doors at least briefly … he auditioned to direct the next X-Men film then heard five hours later that someone else had been hired. Another debut film also left a vivid impression in the official competition - Akinola Davies Jr's kaleidoscopic Nigerian drama My Father's Shadow. It's a stylish look at two young boys (brothers Godwin and Chibuike Marvelous Egbo) being taken out for a fateful 1963 day in Lagos by a distant father (Sope Dirisu) who is trying to reconnect with them. While the hope is that a national election will bring democracy, the annulling of the result triggers chaos. The film featured the single most indelible image of the festival - a stunning shot that had the father and his sons rounding the giant red hull of a ship that had run aground on a beach. Most emotional screening Maggie Miles and Trisha Morton-Thomas' documentary Journey Home - David Gulpilil showed the logistical challenges and complex cultural protocols involved in laying the great Indigenous actor to rest by a sacred waterhole in Arnhem Land after his death in 2021.
