Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi wins best film at Cannes – DW – 05/24/2025
Jafar Panahi never set out to be a political filmmaker. "In my definition, a political filmmaker defends an ideology where the good follow it and the bad oppose it," the Iranian director says. "In my films, even those who behave badly are shaped by the system, not personal choice," he tells DW.
But for more than a decade, Panahi has had little choice. Following his support for the opposition Green Movement protests, the director of "The White Balloon" and "The Circle," was handed a 20-year ban on filmmaking and international travel in 2010 by Iranian authorities. That didn't stop him.
Over the years, he found new ways to shoot, edit, and smuggle out his films — from turning his living room into a movie set ("This Is Not a Film") to using a car as a mobile studio (in "Taxi," which won the Golden Bear at the 2015 Berlinale).
This week, Panahi stepped back into the spotlight — not through smuggled footage or video calls, but in person. For the first time in over two decades, the now 64-year-old filmmaker returned to the Cannes Film Festival to present his latest feature, "It Was Just an Accident," premiering in competition to an emotional 8-minute standing ovation.
A scene from Panahi's 2015 film 'Taxi' — the film won a Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival that year Image: Weltkino Filmverleih/dpa/picture alliance
From prison to the Palais
The road to Cannes has been anything but smooth. Panahi was arrested again in July 2022 and detained in Tehran's notorious Evin prison. After almost seven months and a hunger strike, he was released, in February 2023. In a stunning legal victory, Iran's Supreme Court overturned his original 2010 sentence. Panahi was legally free, but artistically still bound by a system he refuses to submit to. "To make a film in the official way in Iran, you have to submit your script to the Islamic Guidance Ministry for approval," he tells DW. "This is something I cannot do. I made another clandestine film. Again."
That film, "It Was Just An Accident," may be Panahi's most direct confrontation yet with state violence and repression. Shot in secret and featuring unveiled female characters in defiance of Iran's hijab law, the movie tells the story of a group of ex-prisoners who believe they've found the man who tortured them — and must decide whether to exact revenge. The taut, 24-hour drama unfolds like a psychological thriller.
Stylistically, "It Was Just An Accident" is a sharp break from the more contained, and largely self-reflexive works Panahi made while under his official state ban, but the plot remains strongly autobiographical.
A thriller that cuts deep
The film opens with a banal tragedy — a man accidentally kills a dog with his car — and spirals into a slow-burning reckoning with state-sanctioned cruelty. Vahid (Valid Mobasseri), a mechanic who is asked to repair the damaged car, thinks he recognizes the owner as Eghbal, aka Peg-Leg, his former torturer. He kidnaps him, planning to bury him alive in the desert. But he can't be sure he's got the right man, because he was blindfolded during his internment. "They kept us blindfolded, during interrogation or when we left our cells," Panahi recalls of his time in prison. "Only in the toilet could you remove the blindfold."
Seeking reassurance, the mechanic reaches out to fellow prisoners for confirmation. Soon Vahid's van is packed with victims seeking revenge on the man who abused them for nothing more than voicing opposition to the authorities. There's a bride (Hadis Pakbaten) who abandons her wedding, together with her wedding photographer and former inmate Shiva (Maryam Afshari), to go after the man who raped and tortured her. There's Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr), a man so traumatized and so furious by his experience he doesn't care if the man they've caught is the right guy; he just wants vengeance. "Even dead, they're a scourge on humanity," he says of all the intelligence officers serving under the regime.
Jafar Panahi at the Cannes Film festival 2025, his first visit in 22 years Image: Simone Comi/ipa-agency/picture alliance
As the group debates vengeance vs non-violence, alongside brutal descriptions of the beatings and torture they endured, Panahi inserts sly moments of humor and touches of the absurd. The hostage-takers cross paths with Eghbal's family, including his heavily pregnant wife, and suddenly find themselves rushing her to the hospital to give birth. Afterwards, as is tradition in Iran, Vahid heads to a bakery to buy everyone pastries.
"All these characters that you see in this film were inspired by conversations that I had in prison, by stories people told me about the violence and the brutality of the Iranian government, violence that has been ongoing for more than four decades now," says Panahi. "In a way, I'm not the one who made this film. It's the Islamic Republic that made this film, because they put me in prison. Maybe if they want to stop us being so subversive, they should stop putting us in jail."
Filmmaking as the only option
Despite a career defined by resistance, Panahi insists he's simply doing the only thing he knows how. "During my 20-year ban, even my closest friends had given up hope that I would ever make films again," he said at the Cannes press conference for "It Was Just An Accident."
"But people who know me know I can't change a lightbulb. I don't know how to do anything except make films."
That single-minded dedication is what kept him going, even at his lowest.
"I remember just before I was given this very heavy sentence of 20 years, banned from making films and from traveling, and I thought: 'What will I do now?' For a little while, I was really upset," he recalls. "Then I went to my window, I looked up and I saw these beautiful clouds in the sky. I immediately got my camera. I thought: 'This is not something they can take away from me, I can still take pictures of the clouds.' Those photos were later exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris ... There's no way they can stop me from making films. If cinema is really what is sacred for you, what gives sense to your life, then no regime, no censorship, no authoritarian system can stop you."
Jafar Panahi: 'There's no way they can stop me from making films' Image: Janus Films/Everett Collection/IMAGO
No exile, no escape
While many Iranian filmmakers have fled into exile — including Panahi's close friend Mohammad Rasoulof, director of the Oscar-nominated "The Seed of the Sacred Fig," who now lives in Berlin — Panahi says he has no plans to join them. "I'm completely incapable of adjusting to another society," he says. "I had to be in Paris for three and a half months for post-production, and I thought I was going to die."
In Iran, he explained, filmmaking is a communal act of improvisation and trust. "At 2 a.m., I can call a colleague and say: 'That shot should be longer.' And he'll come join me and we'll work all night. In Europe, you can't work like this. I don't belong."
So, even after his Cannes triumph, Panahi will return home. "As soon as I finish my work here, I will go back to Iran the next day. And I will ask myself: 'What's my next film going to be?'"
Edited by: Brenda Haas
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
DW
a day ago
- DW
DW's 'My Persian Love Story' explores love across cultures
The new fictional video series from DW explores the joys and challenges of a binational relationship between an Iranian student and a German partner. An in-house collaboration between DW's Persian Service and its Life and Style department, the series consists of 15 short-form sketches created specifically for social media. The episodes follow a German-Iranian couple as they navigate everyday life—from their first meeting in Germany to planning a wedding—highlighting both the friction and beauty that can arise when cultures collide. My Persian Love Story humorously tackles everyday situations where cultural misunderstandings can occur, such as who pays on the first date, or the awkwardness of loud nose-blowing in public, offering a light-hearted yet insightful look at how small habits can reveal deeper cultural norms and societal expectations. Filmed in Berlin and presented in both English and Farsi, the series features a diverse cast and bilingual editorial teams. It reflects DW's core values of freedom, tolerance, democracy, women's rights, and cultural diversity. Empowering women through storytelling My Persian Love Story was developed with a special focus on female audiences, particularly in Iran, where access to independent media and social platforms has been increasingly restricted. DW is being blocked in Iran and reaches its audiences in the country by promoting various tools for circumventing censorship. The new series aims to fill a critical gap by offering content that resonates with women and highlights their perspectives in a culturally sensitive yet empowering way. Where to watch it The series was premiered on June 1, 2025, and can be watched on DW's Persian and Euromaxx Instagram channels: @dw_persian | @dw_euromaxx
DW
5 days ago
- DW
DW News Africa with Christine Mhundwa, May 29, 2025 – DW – 05/29/2025
05/29/2025 May 29, 2025 'DW gets exclusive access to areas close to the frontline in DRC. People living there tell us about their struggles as tensions heighten with the return of former President Kabila after two years in exile. Plus, a medical mystery in northern Nigeria with millions of cases of chronic kidney disease. And the first ever Nigerian film makes it to the Cannes Film Festival. We've got the film's story'.
DW
6 days ago
- DW
Did Mozart have friends? – DW – 05/28/2025
Mozart had many admirers and would no doubt have countless followers on Instagram today. But did he have real friends? Or did he live solely for music? All is explored at the Mozart festival in Würzburg. If the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were a child prodigy today, he would probably have millions of followers and "friend" requests on social media. But even in the 18th century, Mozart's father Leopold warned his son against false friends — people who envied him, but also flatterers who only told him what he wanted to hear. This year's Mozartfest Würzburg , which started this week and runs through June 22, is about Mozart's friendships. The festival in Würzburg is the oldest and largest Mozart festival in Germany, held every year at the Würzburg Residence, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The festival's motto this year, "But through sound: friend Mozart," refers to one of his quotes, and how music was his main form of expression — and connection. "A true friendship requires trust and mutual understanding," says artistic director Evelyn Meining, adding that even millions of followers on social media platforms cannot replace such a relationship. His 'dearest friend': A representation of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn playing together Image: picture-alliance/Leemage The child prodigy without friends? Mozart caused a sensation in the mid-18th century as a so-called wunderkind. He traveled with his father through Europe for years, captivating court nobles with his talent on the violin and piano. But there was no time for close friendships with his peers. "Of course, the family was very focused on itself; the bond was particularly strong in the early 1760s," Meining told DW. Even later, one cannot imagine Mozart hanging out with friends at cozy dining events. "These were more likely relationships built within a musical context: colleagues, musician friends, teachers, patrons or orchestra musicians from the bands," explains Meining. It's through Mozart's musical talent, evident at a very young age, that the English language acquired the word 'wunderkind' Image: akg-images/picture alliance Artistic friendships at the Mozartfest Artistic friendships also play a special role among the performers at the Mozartfest this year. The opening event featured friends Nils Mönkemeyer (viola) and William Youn (piano), accompanied by the Ensemble Resonanz under conductor Riccardo Minasi. Mönkemeyer and Youn met through music. They love Mozart's works, but they also wanted something more modern for their performance. They therefore commissioned Manfred Trojahn, who has made a name for himself with modern operas, to write a new piece: "Trame lunari," a double concerto for viola, piano and chamber orchestra that facilitates an unusual combination of instruments. "Trame lunari" translates roughly as "moon phantoms." "There are many color changes in the piece, many nuances of lighting, and that's what the title refers to," Trojahn told DW. He appreciates the transparency of Mozart's music. "My composition should by light and transparent, just like Mozart's works," Trojahn explains. Mönkemeyer and Youn are a well-rehearsed team. They performed sometimes extremely delicate sounds with nuance and sensitivity. The Mozart Festival's opening concert with Nils Mönkemeyer, playing viola, and William Youn, at the piano Image: Mozartfest/Foto: Dita Vollmond Joseph Haydn, the fatherly friend Mozart is still considered a role model for many musicians today. He himself had role models such as the composer Joseph Haydn and Bach's son, Johann Christian Bach, whom he admired for his elegant, light music. Joseph Haydn was 24 years older than Mozart. They developed a friendly father-son relationship, and Mozart wrote in letters that Haydn was his "dearest friend." In 1785, he dedicated six string quartets to Haydn, to whom he handed the scores, saying they were his "children." Wax portrait reliefs of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn Image: Oskar Anrather/picture-alliance/brandstaetter images The horn player Joseph Leutgeb was also one of Mozart's close friends. Mozart wrote humorous taunts into his scores, such as "For you, Mr. Donkey." Mozart was also friends with Anton Stadler, one of the best clarinetists of his time. He composed a clarinet quintet and a clarinet concerto for him. Later, as Mozart became increasingly ill and lonely, he wrote that music was essentially his only friend. The 'false friends'? And what about the false friends Mozart's father worried about? One of them appears in Milos Forman's 1984 film, "Amadeus": Antonio Salieri is portrayed in the movie as a mediocre composer and as Mozart's adversary, scheming behind Mozart's back and even poisoning him. The story of Mozart and Salieri's alleged rivalry has been brought to the screen through the 1984 film 'Amadeus' Image: Leemage/dpa/picture-alliance Although this narrative has long since been refuted, it remains a popular belief. Evelyn Meining wants to dispel such clichés at the Mozartfest: "Salieri was not a vicious competitor. That's all untrue," she says. Nor was he a failure living in Mozart's shadow, but a respected court composer. "Mozart and Salieri held each other in high esteem," Meining adds. The 'Black Mozart' Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, is also portrayed as Mozart's rival in literature and in the film "Chevalier" (2022), directed by Stephen Williams. Born in Guadeloupe in 1745, the son of a white French nobleman and a Black slave, he came to France as a child. He made a name for himself early on as a violinist and composer. Joseph Haydn later composed for Bologne's own orchestra. Bologne was also considered for the position of director of the Academie Royale de Musique, but racial discrimination prevented his appointment. The violin duel between Mozart and Bologne depicted in the film "Chevalier" never actually took place. It is questionable whether Bologne, nine years older than Mozart, even had direct contact with him as a young musician. As composers who were active at the same time and were celebrated artists in their circles, it has simply been since assumed that they were competitors, explains Meining. Even the label "Black Mozart" for Joseph Bologne only came about posthumously. Composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) Image: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/picture alliance Friendships yesterday and today The festival's "Mozart Laboratory" hosts discussions on the topic of friendship, with a focus on artistic associations and social networks. "Because, of course, we are in the midst of a revolutionary social transformation, strongly driven by new digital developments such as the internet, social media and AI," says Meining. To counteract this, there will also be concerts held in private homes, where like-minded people can come together and perhaps rediscover music as a "medium of friendship." Who knows, the event might lead to new friendships. This article was originally written in German.
