Iranian revenge thriller It Was Just an Accident wins Palme d'Or at Cannes

Unpacking the Cannes Palme d’Or win of It Was Just an Accident

Brought to international prominence with his debut, The White Balloon, which won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 1995, Jafar Panahi has since become a central figure in world cinema and a beacon of creative defiance. His arrest in 2010 and the subsequent 20-year ban on filmmaking, travel, and interviews — punishment for his outspoken political views — did not silence him entirely. Panahi continued making films in secret, often under house arrest an…

From prison to the Palme d’Or: Jafar Panahi’s defiant message to the world

Iranian director Jafar Panahi said seeing his secretly made film with an audience after 15 years was the most exciting liberty.

Arrested for Singing While Female, in “My Orange Garden”

In Anna-Sofia Richard’s short documentary, a woman sentenced to prison for singing in public in Iran both grapples with repression and longs for home.

Meet all the Cannes Film Festival winners

Jafar Panahi, one of Iran’s most persecuted and admired filmmakers, has won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for It was just an accident, a powerful and moving film about justice, forgiveness and memory. Wearing sunglasses and visibly emotional, the director received the award from the jury president, Juliette Binoche, marking the culmination of a life cycle defined by censorship… Source

Cannes: Dissident Iranian director wins Palme d'Or at film festival

Dissident Iranian director Jafar Pahani - who has been arrested several times in Iran for his filmmaking - has won the prestigious Palme d'Or accolade at the 78th Cannes Film Festival.