By Nazanine Nouri
The acclaimed Iranian filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Saeed Roustayi are contenders for the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, the world’s most important cinematic competition. The prize, known as the Palme d’Or, will be given out in a televised red-carpet ceremony on Saturday May 24.
Panahi is nominated for his movie “It was Just an Accident,” and Roustayi for “Woman and Child.” They are up against 20 other nominees, including Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater, Lynne Ramsay and Kelly Reichardt.
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The first Iranian filmmaker ever to win the Palme d’Or was the late Abbas Kiarostami, for his movie “Taste of Cherry” (1997). He was co-winner of the prize (with the Japanese filmmaker Shohei Imamura). This year’s jury president, the French actress Juliette Binoche, is no stranger to Iranian cinema: she worked closely with Kiarostami, and starred in his 2010 movie “Certified Copy.”
Panahi’s “It Was Just An Accident” is the story of a former political prisoner who kidnaps a man with an artificial leg because he strongly resembles his jailhouse torturer. The film got a four-star review from The Guardian’s critic Peter Bradshaw, who described it as “another very impressive serio-comic film from one of the most distinctive and courageous figures in world cinema.”
At his black-tie Cannes Festival premiere, Panahi received a 10-minute ovation from the audience. He then spoke candidly into the microphone about the conditions of Iranian filmmakers. Many directors “are banned from working, particularly women who stood with the people during the Mahsa Amini movement,” he said. “They were banned simply because they supported the people.”
Panahi was referring to 21-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody in 2022 after being arrested for breaching Iran’s mandatory hijab laws. Amini’s death sparked the first woman-led revolution in world history: the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement. In the aftermath of Amini’s death, millions of Iranian women are defying the law and appearing in public unveiled.
Panahi has also chosen to show an unveiled woman, for the first time ever, in his movie.
Speaking to Variety magazine, Panahi said Iranian women, “in spite of all the repression and all the conflicts that there had been on the subject,” are now walking around with no veil. “There was no way I could make a film and go on covering the female actresses,” he explained, “because that’s not what Iranian women – or many of them – are now doing.”
He also announced in Cannes that he would be returning to Iran as soon as the festival was over – despite having been imprisoned three times in his home country, starting in 2010 and most recently in 2022, and having been accused of “propaganda against the regime.” (His travel ban was lifted in April 2023.)
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Saeed Roustayi’s film “Woman and Child” is a drama starring Parinaz Izadyar (“Law of Tehran”) as a widowed nurse struggling with her rebellious son, who finds herself confronting feelings of betrayal as she seeks justice following a tragic accident.
Also present in Cannes this year is the Iranian-born actress Golshifteh Farahani, who stars in Julia Ducournau’s “Alpha,” another contender for the Palme d’Or. Set during the 1980s AIDS epidemic, it’s the story of a troubled teenager living alone with her mother, and whose world comes crashing down after she comes home from school with a tattoo on her arm.
Panahi is regarded as one of the living masters of Iranian cinema and known for such award-winning films as “The Circle” (Golden Lion at Venice 2000),” “Offside” (Silver Bear at the 2006 Berlinale) “This is Not a Film,” “Taxi” (Golden Bear at the 2015 Berlinale) and “No Bears” (Special Jury Prize at Venice 2022.) Focusing on the hardships of children, the poor and women, Panahi’s films are recognized for the humanistic perspective they provide on life in Iran.
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Born in Mianeh, in East Azerbaijan Province in 1960, Panahi served in the army during the Iran-Iraq War before attending film school in Tehran. After making a series of short films and documentaries for Iranian TV, he began working as assistant director to Kiarostami. He earned international recognition with his debut feature, “The White Balloon,” which was written by Kiarostami and won the Camera d’Or prize for first-time directors at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.
“It Was Just an Accident” (French title: “Un Simple Accident”) was produced by Panahi with Les Films Pelléas, the French production company behind “Anatomy of a Fall” (which won the 2024 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay). Panahi worked on the movie’s post-production in France.
The film stars Majid Panahi playing himself. Majid Panahi is a writer and director, born in Tehran in 1981, who studied film at Karnameh Film School in Tehran with Kiarostami. After completing his first live action short film “Chalangar” based on a story by Kiarostami, he moved to Istanbul in 2011 where he has worked as a CGI artist, editor, writer and director. His directorial debut “Game Birds,” co-written with Canadian Patrick W. Graham and shot in Istanbul was released in 2022.
Roustayi is the writer and director of the critically acclaimed movies “Law of Tehran” in 2019 and “Leila’s Brothers” in 2022. His “Law of Tehran” won 16 awards in 2019, including Best Director at the Tokyo International Film Features, and Best International Feature Film at the Zurich Film Festival. “Leila’s Brothers” was nominated for the 2022 Palme d’Or, and won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival that year.
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Roustayi and his producer both received a six-month suspended prison sentence for showcasing “Leila’s Brother” at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival without authorization. They only served one-twentieth of their jail sentence, or nine days, with the remainder suspended over five years.
Roustayi was born in 1989 and earned a Bachelor of Film and Television in Directing from Soore University in Tehran. His first major cinematic work “Life+ 1 Day” won 9 awards at the Fajr International Film Festival in 2016 including 2 Crystal Simorghs for best directing and best screenplay for Roustayi. It also received the 2016 Reflet d’Or for Best Feature at the Geneva International Film Festival Tous Écrans.
