US EditionIranian film director Jafar Panahi plans to return home despite a new prison sentence against him
Jafar Panahi, sentenced to one year in prison and a two-year travel ban for propaganda against Iran's system, vows to return after completing his Oscar campaign.
- A court in Tehran on 04/12/2025 sentenced Jafar Panahi in absentia to one year in prison and imposed a travel ban while he toured internationally promoting his Oscar-nominated film.
- Panahi's latest film It Was Just an Accident draws on conversations with fellow detainees and reflects experiences from a seven-month jail stint that ended after a hunger strike.
- Winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, It Was Just an Accident also won three awards at New York City's Gotham Awards and is France's official Oscar entry.
- At the Marrakech Film Festival, Panahi said he will finish his Oscar campaign and return to Iran soon, adding he has `only one passport` and never considered exile.
- Amid wider filmmaker crackdowns, Iran's film community faces increased pressure as Panahi plans to return despite a new prison sentence, following penalties for peers earlier this year.
28 Articles
28 Articles
Interview with Iranian director Jafar Panahi Interviewed by: Adam White / The Independent Jafar Panahi wants to go home. “To be honest, my time is being wasted with all this traveling,” the director told me from a New York hotel room, in the middle of a months-long international press tour. “I can’t wait for this to be over, to go back to Iran, to sit down and start working.” A professional troublemaker and a political dissident – both despised …
Marrakech. Iranian film director Jafar Panahi said yesterday that he plans to return to his country after the tour with his new film It was just an accident, and that he has never contemplated exile despite the prison threat he faces in Iran.
Jafar Panahi has announced that he will return to his homeland after the festival tour of his new film, the drama It Was Just an Accident. He has never considered living in exile, he says, even though he has already been sentenced in absentia to a new prison term in Iran.
Acclaimed Iranian film director and dissident Jafar Panahi said today that he plans to return home after touring with his new film "It Was Just a Coincidence" and that he has never considered exile despite facing prison at home.
Representing France at the Oscars, the director plans to return home at the end of his international tour. Yet he has just been sentenced to one year in prison, and to a two-year travel ban.
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 48% of the sources lean Left
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
