Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s revenge thriller “It Was Just an Accident” won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, handing the festival’s top prize to a director who had been banned from leaving Iran for more than 15 years.
Cate Blanchett presented the award to Panahi, who three years ago was imprisoned in Iran before going on a hunger strike. The crowd rose in a thunderous standing ovation for the filmmaker.
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He was among a number of Iranian artists, sports figures and other celebrities who had been detained after speaking out against the country’s government. Panahi, 64, had continued making award-winning films for over a decade despite being legally barred from travel and filmmaking.
The win for “It Was Just an Accident” extends one of the most unprecedented streaks in movies: The indie distributor Neon has backed the last six Palme d’Or winners. Neon, which acquired “It Was Just an Accident” for North American distribution after its premiere in Cannes, follows its Palmes for “Parasite,” “Titane,” “Triangle of Sadness,” “Anatomy of a Fall” and “Anora.”
The Cannes closing ceremony followed a major power outage that struck southeastern France on Saturday in what police suspected was arson. Only a few hours before stars began streaming down the red carpet, power was restored in Cannes.
The Grand Prix, or second prize, was awarded to Joachim Trier’s Norwegian family drama “Sentimental Value,” his lauded follow-up to “The Worst Person in the World.”
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Brazilian political thriller “The Secret Agent” won two big awards: best director for Fihlo and best actor for Wagner Moura.
The jury prize was split between two films: Óliver Laxe’s desert road trip “Sirât ” and Mascha Schilinski’s German, generation-spanning drama “Sound of Falling.”
Best actress went to Nadia Melliti for “The Little Sister,” Hafsia Herzi’s French coming-of-age drama.
The Belgian brothers Jean-Luc and Pierre Dardennes won best screenplay for their latest drama, “Young Mothers.” The Dardennes are two-time Palme d’Or winners.
Cannes’ award for best first film went to Hasan Hadi, for “The President’s Cake,” making it the first Iraqi film to win an award at the festival.
Saturday’s ceremony brings to a close the 78th Cannes Film Festival, where geopolitics cast a long shadow, both on screen and off. Shortly before the French Riviera extravaganza, which is also the world’s largest movie market, U.S. President Trump floated the idea of a 100% tariff on movies made overseas.
Most filmmakers responded with a shrug, calling the plan illogical. “Can you hold up the movie in customs? It doesn’t ship that way,” said Wes Anderson, who premiered his latest, “The Phoenician Scheme” at the festival.
That was one of the top American films in Cannes, along with Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest,” the Christopher McQuarrie-Tom Cruise actioner “Mission: Impossible — Final Reckoning” and Ari Aster’s “Eddington.”
