Iranian director speaks out after Cannes triumph

Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who has previously been put in prison and banned from film-making in his home country, spoke out against the restrictions of the regime after winning the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Panahi picked up the prestigious Palme d'Or for It Was Just an Accident, described by BBC Culture as "a furious but funny revenge thriller that takes aim at oppressive regimes".

He was cheered as he urged fellow Iranians to "set aside" differences and problems.

"What's most important now is our country and the freedom of our country," he said. "Let us join forces. No-one should dare tell us what kind of clothes we should wear, what we should do, or what we should not do."

Panahi's last spell in prison, from which he was freed in 2023, was for protesting against the detention of two fellow film-makers who had been critical of the authorities.

His trip to Cannes was his first appearance at an international festival in 15 years, after being subject to a long travel ban.

It Was Just an Accident was shot in secret and based partly on Panahi's own experiences in prison.

"Before going to jail and before getting to know the people that I met there - and hearing their stories, their backgrounds - the issues I dealt with in my films were totally different," the director told the Hollywood Reporter.

"It's really in this context (...) with this new commitment that I had felt in prison, that I had the idea, the inspiration for this story."

The film tells the tale of five ordinary Iranians who are confronted with a man they believed tortured them in jail.

The characters were inspired by conversations he had with other prisoners and "stories that they told me about, the violence and the brutality of the Iranian government", the director added.

Panahi spent seven months of a six-year sentence in jail before being released in February 2023.

He was previously sentenced to six years in 2010 for supporting anti-government protests and creating "propaganda against the system". He was released on conditional bail after two months, and was banned from making movies or travelling abroad.

He has vowed to return to Tehran after the festival despite the risks of prosecution.

"As soon as I finish my work here I will go back to Iran," he told reporters in Cannes. "And I will ask myself what's my next film going to be."

The Guardian's review described It Was Just an Accident as Panahi's "most emotionally explicit film yet: a film about state violence and revenge, about the pain of tyranny that co-exists with ostensible everyday normality".

"It's another very impressive serio-comic film from one of the most distinctive and courageous figures in world cinema," the paper's critic Peter Bradshaw wrote.

Variety said Panahi had transformed "from understated humanist to open critic of the Iranian regime, as revealed in his punchy new political thriller".

Panahi was presented with the Palme d'Or by French actress Juliette Binoche, who is this year's Cannes jury president, and Australian actress Cate Blanchett.

Introducing the award, Binoche said cinema and art are "provocative" and mobilise "a force that transforms darkness into forgiveness, hope and new life".

"That is why we have chosen for the Palme d'Or It Was Just an Accident by Jafar Panahi."

In her introduction, Blanchett said: "I applaud the festival's understanding that cinema creates openings for wider social conversations to take place."

The award ceremony went ahead as planned despite a five-hour power cut that local officials put down to suspected attacks on a substation and electricity pylon.

Panahi, 64, has now completed the rare feat of winning the top prizes from the Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festivals - and could now be in line for recognition in Hollywood.

Four of the past five Palme d'Or winners have been nominated for the Oscar for best picture.

However, It Was Just an Accident is unlikely to be nominated for the Oscar for best international feature. Films must have a cinematic release in their country of origin to be eligible for that prize, and Panahi's films are banned in Iran.