Palme d’Or winner Jafar Panahi has returned to Iran, where he was given a hero’s welcome.
The Guardian newspaper reports that, two days after claiming the top prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Panahi touched down in Tehran, with video of his posted on social media, including footage posted by Iranian director Mehdi Naderi.
Panahi had previously been banned from leaving Iran, spent multiple times in detention and been forced to make films underground, but chose to attend the Cannes Film Festival in person, 22 years after his most recent trip there.
His high profile meant some supporters were concerned he would run into trouble on his return home, but The Guardian reports that his arrival at Tehran International Airport in the early hours of Monday went without incident. Instead he was cheered by supporters waiting to greet him, including one shouting “Woman, life, freedom!” – the slogan of the 2022/23 protest movement in the country.
Panahi won the coveted award in Cannes for his film It Was Just an Accident, and said after his victory:
“Let’s put all the problems, all the differences aside; the most important thing right now is our country and our country’s freedom.
“Let’s reach that moment together when no one dares to tell us what we should completely include, what we should say, what we shouldn’t do… Cinema is a society. No one has the right to tell us what you should do, what you shouldn’t do.”
His big win was not greeted with rapture by Iranian state media, who gave Panahi’s overseas win limited coverage.
The director’s win is the first time an Iranian filmmaker has walked away with the top award at Cannes since the late Abbas Kiarostami won for Taste of Cherry in 1997.
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