Introduction to Jafar Panahi
Jafar Panahi never demonstrated as a political filmmaker. "In my definition, a political filmmaker defends an ideology in which the good follows and the badly resets it," says the Iranian director. "In my films, even those who behave poorly are not shaped by the system, not from the system," he says.
From Opposition to Acclaim
But for more than a decade, Panahi, the winner of the Palme d’Or, the main prize of the Film Festival in Cannes, has had little choice. After his support for the protests of the opposition Green Movement, the director of "The White Ballon" and "The Circle" received a 20-year ban on filmmaking and international trips from the Iranian authorities in 2010. That didn’t stop him. Over the years, he found new ways to shoot, edit and smuggle his films – from his living room to a film set ("This is not a film") to a car as a mobile studio (in "Taxi" that won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale 2015).
Return to Cannes
This week Panahi stepped back into the spotlight – not through smuggled film material or video calls, but personally. For the first time in over two decades, the 64-year-old filmmaker returned to the Cannes Film Festival to present his latest feature "It was just an accident", which led to an emotional 8-minute standing ovation in the competition.
From Prison to the Palace
The way to Cannes was anything but smooth. Panahi was arrested again in July 2022 and arrested in the notorious Evin prison of Tehran. After almost seven months and a hunger strike, he was released in February 2023. In an impressive legal victory, the Supreme Court of Iran overturned its original prison sentence from 2010. Panahi was legally free, but was still artistically bound to a system that he refuses to submit. "To make a film in the official way in Iran, you have to submit your script to the Islamic Ministry of Ministry for Approval," he told. "I can’t do that. I made another secret film. Again."
"It was just an accident"
This film "It was just an accident" could be Panahi’s most direct confrontation with state violence and repression. The film was shot in secret and with unveiled female characters and tells the story of a group of ex-prisoners who believe that they have found the man who has to torture them-and decide whether they should take revenge. The firing 24-hour drama unfolds like a psychological thriller.
A Thriller that Cuts Deep
The film begins with a banal tragedy a man accidentally kills a dog with his car and a slowly burning billing with state-sanctioned cruelty. Vahid, a mechanic who is asked to repair the damaged car, believes that he recognizes the owner as an eighbal, also known as PEG-Leg, his former torturer. He kidnaps him and plans to bury him alive in the desert. But he cannot be sure that he has the right man because he was connected to eyes during his internment.
Filmmaking as the Only Option
Despite a career through resistance, Panahi insists that he simply does the only thing he knows. "During my 20-year ban, even my closest friends had given up hope that I would ever make films again," he said. "But people who know me know that I can’t change a light bulb. I don’t know how to do something except to make films." This determined devotion kept him running the lowest.
No Exile, No Escape
While many Iranian filmmakers fled into exile, Panahi has no plans to join them. "I am completely unable to adapt to another society," he says. "I had to be in Paris for three and a half months to maintain post-production after production and I thought I would die." In Iran, he said, filmmaking is a common act of improvisation and trust. "At 2 a.m. I can call a colleague and say: ‘This recording should be longer.’ And he will come to me and we will work all night." Even after his triumph from Cannes, Panahi will return home. "As soon as I end my work here, I will return to Iran the next day. And I will ask myself: ‘What will be my next film?’"
