Iranian director Jafar Panahi experienced a stark contrast at the start of awards season: celebrating honors in New York while learning he had been sentenced in absentia in Iran. Panahi was in New York on Monday night as his film It Was Just an Accident collected multiple Gotham Awards, but earlier his lawyer, Mostafa Nili, said Panahi had been given a one-year prison sentence. Nili told Agence France‑Presse and posted the news on X that the ruling also imposes a two-year travel ban and prohibits associating with political groups, citing charges of “propaganda activities against the system.” His legal team intends to appeal.
It Was Just an Accident, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in May, follows a group of former prisoners in Iran who contemplate revenge against a man they believe was their jailer. The international co‑production between Iran, France and Luxembourg is France’s submission for best international feature at the Oscars. Like many Iranian films made under censorship, it was shot secretly.
At the Gotham Awards Panahi accepted three major prizes, including best international feature and best director. Speaking through an interpreter while receiving the best original screenplay award, he dedicated the honor to “filmmakers who keep the camera rolling in silence, without support, and at times risking everything they have, only with their faith in truth and humanity.” He framed the dedication as a tribute to creators “deprived of the right to see and to be seen, but [who] continue to create and to exist.”
This sentence is the latest in a long pattern of repression. Panahi was arrested in 2010 and given a ruling that included a lengthy ban on filmmaking, provoking international outcry from figures such as Martin Scorsese. Undeterred, he made films clandestinely, including This Is Not a Film (2011), famously smuggled out of Iran on a USB stick, and Taxi (2015). In 2022 he was arrested again after seeking information about charges facing fellow director Mohammad Rasoulof; he was detained for seven months and released in 2023 following a hunger strike.
Among Iran’s most acclaimed filmmakers, Panahi is one of a small group to win top prizes at Cannes, Venice and Berlin. He remains widely praised for resisting censorship and has said he cannot imagine leaving Iran permanently, remaining committed to making films there and mentoring the next generation of Iranian filmmakers.