Cannes awards Palme d’Or to Iranian revenge drama ‘It Was Simply an Accident’
Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi gained the Palme d’Or on the Cannes Movie Pageant on Saturday for his revenge thriller “It Was Simply an Accident,” handing the pageant’s prime prize to a director who had been banned from leaving Iran for greater than 15 years.
Cate Blanchett offered the award to Panahi, who three years in the past was imprisoned in Iran earlier than occurring a starvation strike. For a decade and a half, he has made movies clandestinely in his native nation, together with one movie (“This Is Not a Movie”) made in his front room, and one other (“Taxi”) set in a automotive.
The group rose in a thunderous standing ovation for the filmmaker, who instantly threw up his arms and leaned again in his seat in disbelief earlier than applauding his collaborators and the viewers round him. On stage, Panahi was cheered by Cannes jury president Juliette Binoche, who in 2010 on the pageant held up Panahi’s identify to honor the director then beneath home arrest.
On stage, Panahi stated what mattered most was freedom in his nation.
“Allow us to be part of forces,” stated Panahi. “Nobody ought to dare inform us what sort of garments we should always put on, what we should always do or what we should always not do. The cinema is a society. No person is entitled to inform what we should always or chorus from doing.”
“Let’s proceed to hope,” he concluded.
The win for “It Was Simply an Accident” prolong one of the vital unprecedented streaks in motion pictures: The indie distributor Neon has backed the final six Palme d’or winners. Neon, which acquired “It Was Simply an Accident” for North American distribution after its premiere in Cannes, follows its Palmes for “Parasite,” “Titane,” “Triangle of Unhappiness,” “Anatomy of a Fall” and “Anora.”
All these movies had been Oscar contenders and two, “Parasite” and “Anora,” gained finest image.
Final yr, filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof fled Iran to attend the premiere of his movie in Cannes, and resettle in Germany. Panahi, although, has stated life in exile is not for him. He deliberate to fly residence to Tehran on Sunday.
“It Was Simply an Accident” was impressed by Panahi’s expertise in jail. In it, a gaggle of former prisoners encounter the person who terrorized them in jail, and weigh whether or not or to not kill him.
“The movie springs from a sense of resistance, survival, which is totally essential in the present day,” Binoche informed reporters after the ceremony. “Artwork will at all times win. What’s human will at all times win.”
The Cannes closing ceremony adopted a serious energy outage that struck southeastern France on Saturday in what police suspected was arson. Just a few hours earlier than stars started streaming down the crimson carpet, energy was restored in Cannes.
Different winners on the 2025 Cannes Movie Pageant
The Grand Prix, or second prize, was awarded to Joachim Trier’s Norwegian household drama “Sentimental Worth,” his lauded follow-up to “The Worst Particular person within the World.” Some had anticipated “Sentimental Worth” to win the Palme, however Trier — whose movie reunites him with actor Renate Reinsve — nonetheless took a serious prize.
“We reside in a time of great extra and saturation of pictures. Transferring pictures are being thrown at us on a regular basis,” stated Trier. “And I wish to give homage to the Cannes Movie Pageant for being a spot the place the large cinematic picture, which is the inspiration of the transferring picture, the free picture, the picture that we take time to take a look at, the picture the place we will establish with one another in contemplation and empathy, to be cherished on this place in such a approach is essential on this second.”
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Brazilian political thriller “The Secret Agent” gained two huge awards: finest director for Filho and finest actor for Wagner Moura. Although Cannes juries are usually urged to unfold awards round, the 2 for “The Secret Agent” confirmed the jury’s robust emotions for it. Requested concerning the two prizes, juror Jeremy Robust defined, merely, “That was our want.”
The wins, which adopted the worldwide movie Oscar victory for Walter Salles’ “I am Nonetheless Right here” in March, gave Brazil extra to rejoice. On X, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, stated the awards “present that our nation’s cinema is second to none.”
The jury prize was cut up between two movies: Óliver Laxe’s desert highway journey “Sirât ” and Mascha Schilinski’s German, generation-spanning drama “Sound of Falling.” Finest actress went to Nadia Melliti for “The Little Sister,” Hafsia Herzi’s French coming-of-age drama.
The Belgian brothers Jean-Luc and Pierre Dardennes, who’re two-time Palme d’Or winners, gained finest screenplay for his or her newest drama, “Younger Moms.” Cannes’ award for finest first movie went to Hasan Hadi, for “The President’s Cake,” making it the primary Iraqi movie to win an award on the pageant.
What else formed Cannes this yr
Saturday’s ceremony brings to a detailed a 78th Cannes Movie Pageant the place geopolitics forged a protracted shadow, each on display screen and off. Shortly earlier than the French Riviera extravaganza, which can also be the world’s largest film market, U.S. President Donald Trump floated the thought of a 100% tariff on motion pictures made abroad.
Most filmmakers responded with a shrug, calling the plan illogical. “Are you able to maintain up the film in customs? It would not ship that approach,” stated Wes Anderson, who premiered his newest, “The Phoenician Scheme” on the pageant.
That was one of many prime American movies in Cannes, together with Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest,” the Christopher McQuarrie-Tom Cruise actioner “Mission: Unattainable — Closing Reckoning” and Ari Aster’s “Eddington.”
