JAFAR PANAHI

IT WAS
JUST AN ACCIDENT

Already a legend, Jafar Panahi (Taxi Tehran) returns from his 2nd unjust imprisonment with this masterwork—a miracle of moral strength

An ex-prisoner in Iran believes he has finally found his torturer. Vahid, who now walks with a prosthetic leg, teams up with others persecuted by the regime for their political beliefs in a quest for good—or an eye for an eye. Fierce, full of raw wounds, yet somehow humorous and humanistic, this taut revenge thriller haunts with the banality of evil.

Still banned by the Iranian regime from making movies, Jafar Panahi made his 11th film, It Was Just an Accident, in secret and without official permission.
His body of work has won: the Palme d’Or, Caméra d’Or, and Best Screenplay at Cannes; Venice’s Golden Lion; Golden Bear at Berlinale; and Locarno’s Golden Leopard.
Cannes Film Festival 2025 (France)
Winner, Palme d’Or
Sydney Film Festival 2025 (Australia)
Winner, Sydney Film Prize
Academy Awards 2026 (USA)
Nominee - Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay
BAFTA Awards 2026 (UK)
Nominee - Best Film Not in the English Language
Genres: Thriller, Drama
Featuring: Vahid Mobasseri, Maryam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Majid Panahi
Rating: PG13

Duration: 103 min

Languages: Persian (with English subtitles)
A blistering, beautifully directed movie — The New York Times
An extraordinary revenge parable — Rolling Stone
Just so intelligent; so blisteringly powerful; so light of touch — London Evening Standard