Fresh from his Palme d'Or victory at the Cannes Film Festival for his new film, It Was Just an Accident, acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi received a jubilant welcome upon his return to Tehran on Monday.
His triumph, however, has ignited a diplomatic row between France and Iran.
Enthusiastic supporters, friends, and fans welcomed Panahi with applause as he got down from an escalator at Imam Khomeini International Airport, images of which quickly circulated on social networking websites.
A burgeoning dispute followed French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot lauding Panahi's win on X, describing it as "a gesture of resistance against the Iranian regime's oppression." This declaration drew a sharp rebuke from Tehran.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei retorted, “I am not an art expert, but we believe that artistic events and art in general should not be exploited to pursue political objectives.”
Panahi's presence at Cannes marked a significant moment, given his long history of state-imposed restrictions. For over 14 years, the filmmaker faced a ban from filmmaking, leaving Iran, and speaking to the press, following two incarcerations for "propaganda against the state”. The ban was only lifted in April 2023, allowing him to travel to promote the film he shot in a surreptitious manner.
It Was Just an Accident tells the story of erstwhile political prisoners abducting a man they think was their interrogator and torturer. Panahi revealed in an interview with Variety that his own experiences at a prison in Iran inspired the film.
The Palme d'Or adds another prestigious award to Panahi's already impressive collection, making him one of the rare directors to win the most coveted prizes at three of the biggest film festivals in Europe. He secured the Golden Lion at the 2000 Venice Film Festival for The Circle and the 2015 Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Taxi, though he could not attend either festival for his travel ban.
Despite the international acclaim, Iranian media has largely remained silent on Panahi's momentous Cannes victory. While IRNA, the state news outlet, acknowledged the award with a photograph of Panahi alongside a headline that reads "The world’s largest film festival made history for Iranian cinema," news of the Palme d'Or win was conspicuously absent from the websites of the nation's leading English-language news outlets.