DISSIDENT IRANIAN FILMMAKER PANAHI WINS CANNES TOP PRIZE

The latest film from the 64-year-old, "It Was Just an Accident", tells the tale of five ordinary Iranians confronting a man they believed tortured them in jail. 

The core of the provocative and wry drama examines the moral dilemma faced by people if they are given an opportunity to take revenge on their oppressors.

Panahi, who was banned from making films in 2010 and has been imprisoned twice, used his own experiences in jail to write the screenplay.

"Let's set aside all problems, all differences. What matters most right now is our country and the freedom of our country," he told the VIP-studded audience on the French Riviera. 

The leading light in the Iranian New Wave cinema movement has vowed to return to Tehran after the Cannes Festival, despite the risks of prosecution. 

When asked on Saturday evening if he was worried about flying home, he replied: "Not at all. Tomorrow we are leaving."

Iran was shaken by the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests in 2022 sparked by after the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested for allegedly flouting dress rules for women.

The demonstrations were quashed in a crackdown that saw thousands detained, according to the United Nations, and hundreds shot dead by security forces, according to activists.

Panahi has won a host of prizes at European film festivals and showcased his debut film "The White Balloon" in Cannes in 1995 which won an award for best first feature. 

The head of the Cannes 2025 jury, French actress Juliette Binoche, paid tribute to "It Was Just an Accident".

"This is a film that emerges from a place of resistance, a place of survival, and it felt essential to bring it put it on top today," she told reporters afterwards.

Issued on eNCA | https://www.enca.com/lifestyle/dissident-iranian-filmmaker-panahi-wins-cannes-top-prize