Overview

• Jafar Panahi's new film, 'It Was Just an Accident,' premiered at Cannes 2025, marking his first in-person appearance at the festival in over two decades.
• Shot clandestinely, the film draws from Panahi's time in Tehran's Evin Prison and explores themes of justice, violence, and systemic oppression.
• The film features, for the first time in Panahi's work, a female character without a hijab, reflecting shifts in Iranian society following the 2022 'Woman, Life, Freedom' movement.
• Despite the lifting of his formal filmmaking ban in 2023, Panahi continues to work outside Iran's state-sanctioned system, bypassing official script approvals.
• Panahi remains committed to living and working in Iran, emphasizing his connection to its society and rejecting the idea of exile despite ongoing challenges.