Jafar Panahi Is Nominated for Two Oscars; Documentary By Eyni and Khaki Also Shortlisted

By Nazanine Nouri

Jafar Panahi, the award-winning Iranian director who has twice been imprisoned in his homeland, has been nominated for two Academy Awards for his movie “It Was Just An Accident” — which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival last May, and is also  in the running for four Golden Globes.

If Panahi wins an Oscar at the ceremony on March 15, it will be his first.

“It Was Just An Accident” is nominated for Best International Feature (representing France, where it was produced), and Best Original Screenplay. Two other Iranians are shortlisted for an Oscar this year: Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki, whose “Cutting Through Rocks” is nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film.

Accepting his award for Best International Film from the International Board of Review in New York last week, Panahi had powerful words about the nationwide protests in Iran in early January and their violent suppression by the regime.

“The Islamic Republic has caused a bloodbath to delay its collapse. Bodies are piling up on bodies and those who have survived are searching for signs of their loved ones through mountains of corpses,” Panahi said. “This is no longer a metaphor. This is not a story. This is not a film. This is a reality ridden with bullets, day after day.”

“It Was Just An Accident” was secretly filmed in Iran after Panahi spent seven months in prison in 2023. It’s the story of five Iranians who kidnap and confront a man who, they believe, tortured them in jail.

Panahi was sentenced again to a year in prison in December, for spreading propaganda against the Iranian regime — yet this time in absentia: He was in New York receiving the Gotham Awards. He has given no indication for the moment on whether he plans to return to Iran.

The Oscar-nominated documentary “Cutting Through Rocks” is the story of Sara Shahverdi – a divorced former midwife living alone in a village in a remote part of northwestern Iran. She works to protect and guide the women of her village, who are confronted with patriarchal norms, and becomes the first woman elected to the council of her village.

“It Was Just An Accident” won three Gotham Awards in New York in December for Best Director, Best International Feature and Best Original Screenplay.

It also received four Golden Globe nominations in January: for best motion picture: drama, best non-English-language film, best director and best screenplay. It also recently

Panahi is one of the few filmmakers in the world to have won the top prize at all three of Europe’s major film festivals. He won the  Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2000 for “The Circle;” the Golden Bear in Berlin for “Taxi Tehran” in 2015; and the Palme d’Or in Cannes for “It Was Just an Accident” in 2025.