Iranian director Jafar Panahi puts a lot on the line for his work.
Authorities could again arrest him for speaking out against the country’s hard-line regime. They could send him back to the notoriously cruel Evin Prison in Tehran, which houses many of Iran’s political dissidents. He could again be placed on house arrest and barred from making films.
But Panahi, now 65, has largely ignored these attempts at silencing him over the years, instead focusing on doing what he loves most: making films about his homeland.
When he was imprisoned and charged with “propagandizing against the government,” he went on a hunger strike until authorities released him on bail. His filmmaking ban — which was supposed to last for 20 years — ended up serving as creative inspiration, fueling critically acclaimed films such as “This Is Not a Film” and “Taxi.”
With his latest movie, “It Was Just an Accident,” which was released in limited North American theaters over the weekend, Panahi once again defied the government’s attempts to censor his art, though it has meant putting himself at risk.
“You have to find a way around the system,” Panahi said in a recent interview conducted in Farsi at a hotel in Santa Monica, California, and translated into English by NBC News. Panahi, known for the signature sunglasses that he sports at every event, was sitting in the lobby next to his translator after enjoying a smoke break outside.
The filmmaker has had a busy few months traveling the world to promote his film, a buzzy Oscar contender that was picked up for distribution in North America by Neon. He has also faced several hurdles coming from Iran — including missing a New York Film Festival screening after his visa process was delayed, reportedly because of the U.S. government shutdown.
While on the press tour, he has continued to champion his message of the importance of freedom of expression.
“It Was Just an Accident,” a revenge drama that is sprinkled with comedic moments, follows a group of Iranians who capture a man whom they suspect was their interrogator while they were in prison. They quarrel about the man they have put in the back of their van and whether he is in fact the guard, noting both have an artificial leg that makes a squeaking noise when walking. The group also grapples with the morality behind taking vengeance, and whether that makes them just as bad as those who oppressed them.
Panahi reflected on how his own time in prison shaped “It Was Just an Accident,” which was the first film he directed after spending seven months in Evin from 2022 to 2023.
“When you are imprisoned, it does not matter which group, which category and which party you are. We are all living with each other. And then when you go out, you can’t separate from it. These all remain in your mind,” he said. “This experience stays in your brain, and after you leave … you feel like you have to do something to express this.”
The filmmaker has previously spoken about his time at the prison, recalling how he was placed in solitary confinement and blindfolded during his hourslong interrogations. He drew from his own experiences, as well as from fellow political prisoners he met there, in writing the film, making it one of his most personal endeavors to date.
But authorities in Iran oversee the media, so filmmakers must get their scripts approved to get film permits. While Panahi is no longer banned from filmmaking, he chose to shoot in secret, filming in Iran over the course of several weeks without official permission from the government because of the film’s sensitive subject matter.
The crew shot scenes in a remote desert location, in a van and in the streets of Tehran. Expecting trouble from authorities, the crew also took precautionary steps while moving around the city. Panahi told Vulture that in the summer of 2024, the crew was stopped by police during filming. They were asked to turn everything over but they handed over an empty memory card from a camera, rather than the actual footage of the film.
They then waited a few weeks to resume the project and ended up editing part of the movie in France for safety reasons after the cast and crew had a run-in with authorities.
“If you want to make a movie in Iran, you have to accept that is not possible through a regular path, you have to find an alternative path, and you either have to find it yourself or use other people’s experience in doing so,” Panahi said.
Despite his years of political dissent and the personal price he has paid, Panahi is humble. He explained that it’s the people of Iran who deserve praise for continuing to stand up to the government in the aftermath of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody, which triggered huge, monthslong public protests that were labeled the Women, Life, Freedom movement.
“They are more brave than I am,” he said, noting that he’s someone who is “well known” and because of that has “some protections in place.” The activists “are not known to anyone,” he said. They took to the streets, were jailed and released, and still continue to protest in their own ways.
For example, there are women in Iran who now refuse to wear the mandatory hijab, instead walking around with their hair flowing freely. It’s a subtle act of defiance that Panahi captured in his film, which shows its two female stars without headscarves in public in several scenes.
It was important to Panahi to depict a “truthful picture of Iran,” he said. “We’ve reached a point in history where everything is measured by whether it happened before or after the Women, Life, Freedom movement. If it’s before, and you were showing in your film that there was a woman without the headscarf covering, it would not be believable.”
Those who admire Panahi say his art serves as its own powerful form of activism, as he balances politics with a personal touch that helps breathe levity into heavier topics.
At the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, Panahi won the prestigious Palme d’Or after the film received a nearly eight-minute standing ovation.
The win marked the second time an Iranian filmmaker took home the award (Abbas Kiarostami was the first, winning in 1997 for “Taste of Cherry”). Panahi has now received the top prize at all three major European film festivals, including Berlin’s Golden Bear for “Taxi” in 2015 and the Golden Lion at Venice for “The Circle” in 2000.
Oscar-winning actor Juliette Binoche, who served as the 2025 Cannes jury president, said that “It Was Just an Accident” “springs from a feeling of resistance, survival, which is absolutely necessary today.”
“It’s very human and political at the same time, because he comes from a complicated country,” she said at the event, according to Deadline. “When we watched the film, it stood out.”
At the New York Film Festival earlier this month, Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese also praised Panahi and called on more streaming services to champion Iranian cinema.
As the film continues to rack up positive reviews and vies for Oscar nods, Panahi plans to continue to promote it at events.
Other Iranian filmmakers, including Panahi’s friend and fellow director Mohammad Rasoulof, have fled Iran to avoid facing fierce punishment.
But when asked whether he fears the Iranian government lashing out at him again, Panahi appeared undeterred.
“What are they going to do that they haven’t done already?” he said.
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