Festival de Cannes 2025, the Palme d'Or to It Was Just an Accident by Jafar Panahi

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Chaired by French actress Juliette Binoche, the Jury of the 78th Cannes Film Festival unveiled the winners and awarded the Palme d’Or to It Was Just an Accident by director Jafar Panahi.

It Was Just an Accident: The Competition Jury, chaired by French actress Juliette Binoche, unveiled the winners of the 78th edition of the world’s largest cultural event during the Closing Ceremony. The Jury President was assisted in selecting the various awards by American actress and filmmaker Halle Berry, Indian director and screenwriter Payal Kapadia, Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher, Franco-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, Congolese director, documentarian, and producer Dieudo Hamadi, Korean director and screenwriter Hong Sangsoo, Mexican director, screenwriter, and producer Carlos Reygadas, and American actor Jeremy Strong.

Jafar Panahi ©YesICannes.com

A palm that is not an accident

After ten days of competition among twenty-two films, marked by emotional moments such as Pierre Richard‘s applauded walk of the Red Carpet, the closing ceremony, with French actor Laurent Lafitte as Master of Ceremonies, welcomed numerous personalities from the cinema and entertainment world. The entire awards ceremony was broadcast live on France 2 and Brut. As usual, the award list defied the predictions that are made at the end of the Festival: the Palme d’Or was awarded to It Was Just an Accident by director Jafar Panahi. “We are here with all those who suffer, with heart and with tenderness.” Juliette Binoche commented.

©YesICannes.com

Braving the theocratic power of the mullahs in Iran

Jafar Panahi, known for The Circle, Three Faces, or Taxi Tehran, has been defying the theocratic power of the mullahs in Iran for many years and has served several prison sentences. Seven years after Three Faces, Best Screenplay in 2018, he succeeds Sean Baker, who won it last year for Anora, following Justine Triet and her film Anatomy of a Fall. The two films were later honored at the Oscars. We wish the same success to It Was Just an Accident.

It Was Just an Accident ©JafarPanahiProductionsLesFilmsPelleas

Filming, an act of resistance

For Jafar Panahi, filming remains an act of resistance from within the land of the mullahs. Arrests, imprisonment, house arrests, travel bans, and even filming bans have never extinguished his determination to denounce the restrictions on freedoms in the Islamic Republic. Against all odds, Jafar Panahi has always continued to make films by defying constraints, often clandestinely, and, despite the limited resources at his disposal, he has managed to create masterpieces that proclaim his freedom as a man. In It Was Just an Accident, the director once again explores the complexities of the human condition through a seemingly simple yet profoundly moving story. The film follows an innocuous event that, through a series of coincidences and chain reactions, takes on unexpected proportions.

The winners © Jean-Louis Hupe / FDC

The winners of the 78th Cannes Film Festival

Palme d’Or: A Simple Accident by Jafar Panahi
Grand Prix du Jury: Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier (hailed by a 19-minute standing ovation on May 21)
Jury Prize: Sirat by Olivier Laxe tied with Sound of Falling by Mascha Schilinski
Best Director Award: The Secret Agent by Kleber Mendonça Filho
Special Prize: Resurrection by Bi Gan
Best Actor Award: Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent by Kleber Mendonça Filho
Best Actress Award: Nadia Melliti for La Petite Dernière by Hafsia Herzi

Hafsia Herzi & Nadia Melliti (right) ©YesICannes.com

Best Screenplay: Young Mothers by the Dardenne Brothers

Young Mothers ©YesICannes.com

Golden Camera Award: The President’s Cake (Mamlaket al-Qasab) by Hasan Hadi (Directors’ Fortnight)
Special mention Golden Camera: My Father’s Shadow by Akinola Davies (Un Certain Regard)

festival cannes 2025 immersive from dust

From Dust by Michel van der Aa © doubleA Foundation

The Best Immersive Work Award

For its second edition, the immersive competition of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, highlighting a creation exploring the potential of spatial computing and artificial intelligence to develop new forms of storytelling, was held at the Carlton Hotel. The official selection this year included 16 works from 9 countries: 9 in competition, 2 out of competition, and 5 presented as part of a special Focus on Luxembourg. The Jury of the Immersive Competition awarded the Best Immersive Work Prize to From Dust, created by Michel van der Aa. Chaired by the French director Luc Jacquet, the Jury consisted of the American director, musician, and writer Laurie Anderson, the French author and performer Tania de Montaigne, the British director, screenwriter, and artist Martha Fiennes, and the Japanese video game creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi.