Cannes 2025: Iranian director Jafar Panahi wins Palme d’Or for It Was Just an Accident

Cannes Film festival 2025: The big festival culminated last night with Jafar Panahi redeeming himself with a Palme d’Or for his film It Was Just An Accident. The ace filmmaker made a film about his time in prison and won the coveted award for the same. The 78th Cannes Film Festival bestowed its highest honour on a film that follows five characters who think they’ve identified the prosecutor who tortured them during their own arrests — but as they were all blindfolded in jail, none can be entirely certain their captive is the same man.

Jafar Panahi wins big prize

Jafar Panahi is a master filmmaker. He was arrested and convicted for “propaganda against the regime” in 2010. He continued making films, even when he was forbidden from doing so. In 2011 when he couldn't attend the festival, he sent a flash drive with his film This Is Not A Film. He has remained a vocal critic of the regime and speaks against government.

Thanking his family, Jafar Panahi said, “I think it’s the moment to ask everyone, all the Iranians with opinions different from others, in Iran and throughout the world…I’d like to ask them one thing: Put all the problems and differences aside. The most important thing is surely our country and the freedom of our country.”

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Meanwhile, there was a power blackout which disrupted screenings and caused general confusion among attendees. Fortunately, the festival had backup generators running, ensuring that the show would go on at the Palais.

The Grand Prix was awarded to Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s layered family drama Sentimental Value. The film follows a difficult filmmaker’s attempt to reconcile things with his estranged daughter by casting her in his most personal film to date — an offer she can’t help but take as the man’s most egotistical gesture yet.

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Newcomer Nadia Melliti won best actress honors for Little Sister, in which she plays a tough Paris teenager trying to navigate her sexuality in a conservative immigrant community.

The Secret Agent took two prizes. Wagner Moura earned best actor, for playing a father who disguises his identity in an attempt to evade assassination during Brazil’s military dictatorship, while Kleber Mendonça Filho was named best director.

Here are the full list of prizes:

COMPETITION

Palme d’Or: “It Was Just an Accident,” Jafar Panahi

Grand Prix: “Sentimental Value,” Joachim Trier

Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho, “The Secret Agent”

Actor: Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”

Actress: Nadia Melliti, “Little Sister”

Jury Prize — TIE: “Sirat,” Olivier Laxe AND “Sound of Falling,” Mascha Schilinski

Special Award (Prix Spécial): “Resurrection,” Bi Gan

Screenplay: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, “Young Mothers”

OTHER PRIZES

Camera d’Or: ”The President’s Cake,” Hasan Hadi

Camera d’Or Special Mention: “My Fther’s Shadow,” Akinola Davies Jr.

Short Film Palme d’Or: “I’m Glad You’re Dead Now,” Tawfeek Barhom

Short Film Special Mention: “Ali,” Adnan Al Rajeev

Golden Eye Documentary Prize: “Imago,” Déni Oumar Pitsaev

Golden Eye Special Jury Prize: “The Six Billion Dollar Man,” Eugene Jarecki

Queer Palm: “Little Sister,” Hafsia Heerzi

Palme Dog: Panda, “The Love That Remains”

FIPRESCI Award (Competition): “The Secret Agent,” Kleber Mendonça Filho

FIPRESCI Award (Un Certain Regard): “Urchin,” Harris Dickinson

FIPRESCI Award (Parallel Sections): “Dandelion’s Odyssey,” Momoko Seto

UN CERTAIN REGARD

Un Certain Regard Award: “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” Diego Céspedes

Jury Prize: “A Poet,” Simón Mesa Soto

Best Director Prize: Tarzan and Arab Nasser, “Once Upon a Time in Gaza”

Performance Awards: Cléo Diara, “I Only Rest in the Storm”; Frank Dillane, “Urchin”

Best Screenplay: Harry Lighton, “Pillion”

Special Mention: “Norah,” Tawfik Alzaidi

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT

Europa Cinemas Label: “Wild Foxes,” Valéry Carnoy

Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: “Wild Foxes,” Valéry Carnoy

Audience Choice Award: “The President’s Cake,” Hasan Hadi

CRITICS’ WEEK

Grand Prize: “A Useful Ghost,” Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke

French Touch Prize: “Imago,” Déni Oumar Pitsaev

GAN Foundation Award for Distribution: Le Pacte, “Left-Handed Girl”

Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Théodore Pellerin, “Nino”

Leitz Cine Discovery Prize (short film): “L’mina,” Randa Maroufi

Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: Guillermo Galoe and Victor Alonso-Berbel, “Sleepless City”

Canal+ Short Film Award: “Erogenesis,” Xandra Popescu