Cannes awards Palme d'Or to Iranian revenge drama 'It Was Just an Accident'

Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi won the Palme d'Or astatine the Cannes Film Festival connected Saturday for his revenge thriller "It Was Just an Accident," handing the festival's apical prize to a manager who had been banned from leaving Iran for much than 15 years.

Cate Blanchett presented the grant to Panahi, who 3 years agone was imprisoned successful Iran earlier going connected a hunger strike. For a decennary and a half, helium has made films clandestinely successful his autochthonal country, including 1 movie ("This Is Not a Film") made successful his surviving room, and different ("Taxi") acceptable successful a car.

The assemblage roseate successful a thunderous lasting ovation for the filmmaker, who instantly threw up his arms and leaned backmost successful his spot successful disbelief earlier applauding his collaborators and the assemblage astir him. On stage, Panahi was cheered by Cannes assemblage president Juliette Binoche, who successful 2010 astatine the festival held up Panahi's sanction to grant the manager past nether location arrest.

On stage, Panahi said what mattered astir was state successful his country.

"Let america articulation forces," said Panahi. "No 1 should situation archer america what benignant of apparel we should wear, what we should bash oregon what we should not do. The cinema is simply a society. Nobody is entitled to archer what we should oregon refrain from doing."

Director Jafar Panahi, front, accepts the Palme d'Or for the movie "It Was Just an Accident" during the awards ceremonial Saturday.Lewis Joly / Invision via AP

"Let's proceed to hope," helium concluded.

The triumph for "It Was Just an Accident" widen 1 of the astir unprecedented streaks successful movies: The indie distributor Neon has backed the past six Palme d'or winners. Neon, which acquired "It Was Just an Accident" for North American organisation aft its premiere successful Cannes, follows its Palmes for "Parasite," "Titane," "Triangle of Sadness," "Anatomy of a Fall" and "Anora."

All those films were Oscar contenders and two, "Parasite" and "Anora," won champion picture.

Last year, filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof fled Iran to be the premiere of his movie successful Cannes, and resettle successful Germany. Panahi, though, has said beingness successful exile isn't for him. He planned to alert location to Tehran connected Sunday.

"It Was Just an Accident" was inspired by Panahi's acquisition successful jail. In it, a radical of erstwhile prisoners brushwood the antheral who terrorized them successful jail, and measurement whether oregon not to termination him.

"The movie springs from a feeling of resistance, survival, which is perfectly indispensable today," Binoche told reporters aft the ceremony. "Art volition ever win. What is quality volition ever win."

The Cannes closing ceremonial followed a large powerfulness outage that struck southeastern France connected Saturday successful what constabulary suspected was arson. Only a fewer hours earlier stars began streaming down the reddish carpet, powerfulness was restored successful Cannes.

Other winners astatine the 2025 Cannes Film Festival

The Grand Prix, oregon 2nd prize, was awarded to Joachim Trier's Norwegian household play "Sentimental Value," his lauded follow-up to "The Worst Person successful the World." Some had expected "Sentimental Value" to triumph the Palme, but Trier — whose movie reunites him with histrion Renate Reinsve — inactive took a large prize.

Director Joachim Trier, center, victor of the GrandPprix for the movie "Sentimental Value," poses with Elle Fanning, left, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård successful Cannes connected Saturday.Scott A Garfitt / Invision via AP

"We unrecorded successful a clip of tremendous excess and saturation of images. Moving images are being thrown astatine america each the time," said Trier. "And I privation to springiness homage to the Cannes Film Festival for being a spot wherever the large cinematic image, which is the instauration of the moving image, the escaped image, the representation that we instrumentality clip to look at, the representation wherever we tin place with each different successful contemplation and empathy, to beryllium cherished successful this spot successful specified a mode is precise important successful this moment."

Kleber Mendonça Filho's Brazilian governmental thriller "The Secret Agent" won 2 large awards: champion manager for Filho and champion histrion for Wagner Moura. Though Cannes juries are mostly urged to dispersed awards around, the 2 for "The Secret Agent" showed the jury's beardown feelings for it. Asked astir the 2 prizes, juror Jeremy Strong explained, simply, "That was our wish."

The wins, which followed the planetary movie Oscar triumph for Walter Salles' "I'm Still Here" successful March, gave Brazil much to celebrate. On X, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said the awards "show that our country's cinema is 2nd to none."

The assemblage prize was divided betwixt 2 films: Óliver Laxe's godforsaken roadworthy travel "Sirât " and Mascha Schilinski's German, generation-spanning play "Sound of Falling." Best histrion 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 are two-time Palme d'Or winners, won champion screenplay for their latest drama, "Young Mothers." Cannes' grant for champion archetypal movie went to Hasan Hadi, for "The President's Cake," making it the archetypal Iraqi movie to triumph an grant astatine the festival.

What other shaped Cannes this year

Saturday's ceremonial brings to a adjacent a 78th Cannes Film Festival wherever geopolitics formed a agelong shadow, some connected surface and off. Shortly earlier the French Riviera extravaganza, which is besides the world's largest movie market, U.S. President Donald Trump floated the thought of a 100% tariff connected movies made overseas.

Most filmmakers responded with a shrug, calling the program illogical. "Can you clasp up the movie successful customs? It doesn't vessel that way," said Wes Anderson, who premiered his latest, "The Phoenician Scheme" astatine the festival.

That was 1 of the apical American films successful Cannes, on with Spike Lee's "Highest 2 Lowest," the Christopher McQuarrie-Tom Cruise actioner "Mission: Impossible — Final Reckoning" and Ari Aster's "Eddington."