Overview

• The Palme d'Or winner begins its theatrical run in France today following a high‑profile festival tour that included Telluride and Toronto.
• France chose the Franco‑Iranian co‑production, backed by Les Films Pelléas, as its submission for the 2026 Academy Award for best international feature.
• The film was made without Iranian government authorization, features actresses without headscarves, and cannot be distributed inside Iran.
• Iranian state‑linked and ultraconservative outlets condemned the work and its international honors, with Fars dismissing it as lacking artistic value and Vatan Emrooz attacking Panahi personally.
• The story follows an ex‑prisoner who seizes a man he believes tortured him and seeks counsel from other former detainees, drawing on Panahi’s own periods of incarceration and hunger strike.