Jafar Panahi, the resistance fighter wins the Palme d'Or
PORTRAIT - Back in Cannes, where he had not appeared for fifteen years, the Iranian filmmaker has taken his time in prison and produced the hard-hitting film A Simple Accident .
Jafar Panahi hadn't been to Cannes for fifteen years. Until last year, the Iranian regime prevented the filmmaker from traveling, but it never stopped him from filming. Clandestinely: such is the credo of this stocky man with a full head of hair who presented A Simple Accident on Tuesday, May 20, on the Croisette. His new film, shot with a hidden camera and a troupe of actors, some of whom are not professionals—among them a karate referee, his nephew, a carpenter—received a long ovation at its screening.
He spoke of this moment with great emotion the day before the ceremony: "It was the first time in fifteen years that I had seen one of my films in a theater, with an audience. Perceiving the audience's reactions, observing the strong and weak points of the film through them... I had been deprived of that for fifteen years. Yes, I had the impression that it was a first time," he confided to Le Figaro . In his country, in fact, most of his films have been banned because they were too critical of the mullahs' regime.
Also read: Our review of A Simple Accident, Iran in all its terror
In 1995, Jafar Panahi received the Caméra d'Or at Cannes for his first film, The White Balloon, co-written with Abbas Kiarostami. Censorship entered the picture with his next film. The Circle , which explores the status of women in Iran, was banned from theaters. In 2003, Blood and Gold , bordering on the thriller genre, was chosen to represent Iran at the Oscars, which obviously didn't prevent it from being banned. Just like Offside, which depicts a group of women defying the rules to attend a soccer match.
In 2010, he was arrested and spent 86 days in Evin Prison before being released on bail in May. Invited as a juror at Cannes, his seat remained symbolically empty for the duration of the festival. Jafar Panahi was ordered not to direct any films, write any screenplays, give any interviews to the press, or leave his country for twenty years, under penalty of six years in prison.
He does not let go of the camera, however, first filming in the secrecy of his apartment This is not a film before venturing outside. Taxi Tehran , unveiled in 2015 at the Berlinale, the journey of a taxi driver (himself) who collects the confidences of his customers will be a huge success abroad. On July 11, 2022, Jafar Panahi was arrested again and will not be released until February 3, 2023 after a hunger strike.
Also read: Cannes Film Festival 2025: The Palme d'Or for A Simple Accident by Jafar Panahi
It was this experience in prison that inspired the story of A Simple Accident , in which prisoners returned to civilian life kidnap their former torturer and argue over his fate. "It's very difficult to create a work at a time when the events described are taking place ," he explained to us on Friday. "Their questions are ours at this moment: what are we going to do with these people tomorrow? It's very difficult to know the right attitude to have. Including for me, who advocates non-violence. Will we really be able to apply it?"
lefigaro
