"When he returned to Tehran, I read, one of the first things he did was to visit the grave of Abbas Kiarostami. The gesture was altogether appropriate: Not Only was Kiarostami the only Iranian director to have previously won the Palme d'or (for "Taste of Cherry" in 1997), he was also Panahi's mentor; the two had a creative relationship that spanned decades prior to Kiarostami's death in 2016."
"At the New York Film Festival in October, he told Martin Scorsese that when he saw his movie premiere at Cannes, it was the first time he had watched one of his films with an audience in 17 years - a hardship that most filmmakers can scarcely imagine. Since 2010, the Iranian regime has imprisoned him, banned him from making films, writing screenplays and giving interviews, and prevented him from leaving the country."
Jafar Panahi won the 2025 Cannes Palme d'Or for It Was Just an Accident, a stark drama about former prisoners debating revenge. The Iranian government allowed Panahi to attend Cannes, and he visited the grave of his mentor Abbas Kiarostami upon returning to Tehran. The film has won awards worldwide and is a leading Oscar candidate. Since 2010 Panahi has faced imprisonment, bans on filmmaking, writing and giving interviews, and travel restrictions. Panahi persisted by producing low-budget unauthorized films and smuggling them to foreign festivals; Accident is the sixth made under the ban.
Read at Roger Ebert
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