Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi won the Palme d’Or at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. On May 24, the festival’s jury, chaired by French actress Juliette Binoche, announced this year’s winner list.
Panahi’s film, It Was Just an Accident, inspired by his experience as a political prisoner, received the top prize. Jafar’s win earned him a rare distinction among filmmakers—winning the top prize at Europe’s most important film festivals (Venice, Cannes and Berlin).
It Was Just an Accident
Despite experiencing multiple detentions and bans throughout his career, dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi has never stopped creating and ideating new projects. For his return to this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the director found inspiration in his own imprisonment in Iran to tell the story of a former prisoner who kidnaps the person he believes is his prison torturer.
In his first feature film since his prison release in 2023, Panahi explored the resilience of Iranian political prisoners and the complexities of taking justice into one’s own hands. Part human drama and part vengeance thriller with just a dash of comedy, It Was Just an Accident was an homage to the people Panahi met in prison. The film also marked the beginning of a new career chapter for the independent filmmaker.
“My second experience in prison changed me even more profoundly. When I got out, I felt obliged to make a film for those I had met in my cell. I owed them this film,” Panahi shared in a press dossier. “I speak from my personal experience, but this experience is in sync with what happened simultaneously in Iranian society in general, with the Women, Life, and Freedom Revolution beginning in the fall of 2022.“
History in the Making
With his latest Cannes win, Panahi joins a very short list of directors who have won the top prizes at Europe’s biggest film festivals. In 2000, the filmmaker won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival with The Circle. In 2025, he took home the Golden Bear of Berlin for his work in Taxi. Panahi is the first non-white director to achieve the feat and joins only three other directors: Henri-Georges Clouzot, Michelangelo Antonioni and Robert Altman.
It Was Just an Accident also made history as the sixth Palme d’Or winner in a row to have been picked by Neon for North American distribution. The label previously acquired the rights to films such as Parasite and Anora, ahead of their groundbreaking wins at Cannes.
The Winners
In addition to Panahi’s film, the jury recognized Affeksjonsverdi (Sentimental Value) by Joachim Trier. The film, starring Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter and Elle Fanning, received the Grand Prix. The Joint Jury Prize went to the Spanish-French co-production, Sirât and Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling.
Nadia Melliti also starred in a memorable moment, taking the Best Actress award for her performance in The Little Sister, directed by Hafsia Herzi. The film, the coming-of-age story of a queer Muslim girl in Paris, is Melliti’s acting debut.
Latin America also had a moment at Cannes. Riding Brazilian cinema’s momentum, O Agente Secreto (The Secret Agent) swept the awards for Best Director (Kleber Mendoça Filho) and Best Performance by an Actor (Wagner Moura).
Meanwhile, in the festival’s parallel selection, Un Certain Regard, Chilean director Diego Céspedes won the main Prize with his film La Misteriosa Mirada del Flamenco (The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo). The Jury Prize went to Un Poeta (A Poet) by Colombian filmmaker Simon Mesa Soto.
See the full winner list below:
Feature Films
Palme d’Or: Un Simple Accident by Jafar Panahi
Grand Prix: Affeksjonsverdi (Sentimental Value) by Joachim Trier
Joint Jury Prize: Sirât by Oliver Laxe; Sound Of Falling by Mascha Schilinski
Best Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho for O Agente Secreto (The Secret Agent)
Best Screenplay: Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne for Jeunes Mères
Best Performance by an Actress: Nadia Melliti in La Petite Dernière, directed by Hafsia Herzi
Best Performance by an Actor: Wagner Moura in O Agente Secreto (The Secret Agent) directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho
Special Award: Kuang Ye Shi Dai (Resurrection) By Bi Gan
Short Films
Palme d’Or: I’m Glad You’re Dead Now by Tawfeek Barhom
Special Mention: Ali by Adnan Al Rajeev
Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard Prize: La Misteriosa Mirada Del Flamenco (The Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingo) by Diego Céspedes – 1st Film
Jury Prize: Un Poeta (A Poet) by Simón Mesa Soto
Directing: Arab and Tarzan Nasser for Once Upon A Time In Gaza
Best Actor: Frank Dillane in Urchin directed by Harris Dickinson
Best Actress: Cleo Diára in O Riso E A Faca (I Only Rest In The Storm) directed by Pedro Pinho
Best Screenplay: Pillion by Harry Lighton – 1st Film
Caméra d’Or
Caméra d’Or Prize: The President’s Cake by Hasan Hadi – Directors’ Fortnight
Special Mention: My Father’s Shadow by Akinola Davies Jr – Un Certain Regard
La Cinef
First Prize: First Summer by Heo Gayoung – Kafa, South Korea
Second Prize: 12 Moments Before The Flag Raising Ceremony by Qu Zhizheng – Beijing Film Academy, China
Joint Third Prize: Ginger Boy by Miki Tanaka – Enbu Seminar, Japan; Winter In March by Natalia Mirzoyan – Estonian Academy Of Arts, Estonia
