Iranian director Džafar Panáhí, who won the Golden Palm for his film “It was Just an Accident” at this year’s festival, waited on Monday after returning to Tehran’s ovation of his fans. Many came to welcome to Tehran Airport and posted videos on social networks, AFP reported, TASR writes.
Panáhí was persecuted in Iran for years – he was banned from traveling, he made his films secretly and was in prison several times. He allowed him to travel to the Cannes Festival for the first time in 15 years, and he immediately won.
Ovations in Tehran
After returning to Tehran on Monday in the early morning, he was welcomed by a crowd of supporters at the airport, some of them chanted, “Woman. Life. Freedom.” It was a slogan from the protests that took place in Iran in the years 2022-2023 and seriously shaken the regime.
At the same time, the director admitted at the end of his stay in Cannes that after returning to Iran, he could be prison again.
The risk of prison
“When you make movies like this, you know you have to pay a price for it. It may be a prison or a thousand other things,” he said in an interview that took place on Sunday morning and broadcast on Monday by France Inter.
Panáhí added that he was ready for this alternative and said he would not emigrate because he said “is unable to adapt to any country other than Iran”.
Retrospective in Sydney
French film producer Philippe Martin also confirmed his return to Iran for AFP. He added that Panáhí even learned that he won a visa for the Sydney festival, which takes place in about ten days. Sydney Film Festival is preparing a retrospective of Panáhi’s work called Cinema in Rebellion.
According to AFP, the reaction of the Iranian state media and authorities to the Golden Palm was cold. The victory of Panahi, the first gold palm for Iran since 1997, has also triggered a diplomatic rupture with France. French Foreign Minister Jean-Neloel Barrot described Ms. Panahi’s victory as “a gesture of resistance against Iranian oppression”, which Tehran perceived as an “insult” and summoned Chargé d’Ffaires of the French embassy in Iran.
The political undertone of the film
The film “It Was Just An Accident” has a political undertone – it is a story about the five Iranians who decide what to do with his former torturer of prison. According to AFP, the film reflects the director’s own prison experience.
Panáhí, when awarding the Cannes award, called on the Iranians at home and abroad for unity and defense of freedom. “Let’s forget the differences. The most important is the freedom of our country today,” he said.
Director Mohammad Rasúlof, who recently escaped from Iran, expressed his support from Panáhi and said that his film “will soon arrive at his true audience – people in Iran”.
