Jafar Panahi triumphs at Cannes with "It Was Just An Accident"

Revenge thriller "It Was Just An Accident" by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who was barred from filmmaking for 15 years by the government in Tehran, won the Palme d'Or top prize on Saturday.

With the award, Panahi now has the rare honor of winning the top prize at all three major European film festivals, after nabbing Berlin's Golden Bear for "Taxi" in 2015 and the Golden Lion at Venice for "The Circle" in 2000.

The 64-year-old director, who last attended the festival in person in 2003, addressed his prize to all Iranians, saying the most important thing was Iran and the country's freedom.

"Hoping that we will reach a day when no one will tell us what to wear or not wear, what to do or not do," he said, in an apparent reference to Iran's strict Islamic dress code for women.

The death in 2022 of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in the custody of the morality police for allegedly violating hijab rules sparked Iran's most significant domestic unrest since the 1979 revolution that brought its clerical rulers to power.

Panahi, imprisoned several times in Iran, plans to return to his country after the festival, he told Reuters.

"Win or not, I was going to go back either way. Don't be afraid of challenges," said the director who made films illegally during the 15-year ban that was recently lifted.

Panahi added that he would never forget his first day at this year's festival, and getting to watch the film with an audience after all those years: "Every moment was thrilling."

"It Was Just An Accident," which follows a garage owner who rashly kidnaps a one-legged man who looks like the one who tortured him in prison and then has to decide his fate, is only the second Iranian film to win, after "Taste of Cherry" in 1997.

"Art mobilizes the creative energy of the most precious, most alive part of us. A force that transforms darkness into forgiveness, hope, and new life," said jury president Juliette Binoche when announcing why they chose Panahi for the award.

Twenty-two films were competing for the prize at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, including entries from well-known directors Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson, and Ari Aster.

Without a hitch

Saturday's closing ceremony, which officially ended the glamour-filled festival, went off without a hitch after the Cannes area experienced a power outage for several hours.

"Sentimental Value," directed by acclaimed Joachim Trier, received the Grand Prix, the second-highest prize after the Palme d'Or.

The jury prize was split between the intergenerational family drama "Sound of Falling" from German director Mascha Schilinski and "Sirat", about a father and son who head into the Moroccan desert, by French-Spanish director Oliver Laxe.

Brazil's "The Secret Agent" won two awards: one for best actor for Wagner Moura and one for best director for Kleber Mendonca Filho.

"I was having champagne," said Mendonca Filho after he ran up to the stage again to collect his award after celebrating the win for Moura, who was not in attendance.

Newcomer Nadia Melliti won best actress for "The Little Sister," a queer coming-of-age story about the daughter of Algerian immigrants in Paris.

Belgium's Dardenne brothers, who have already won two Palme d'Or prizes, won the award for best screenplay for their film Young Mothers.

Outside the competition line-up, director Spike Lee brought "Highest 2 Lowest" starring Denzel Washington to the festival. Tom Cruise was in town for what could be his final "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning."

Washington, who was only briefly at the festival, received a surprise honorary Palme d'Or on Monday night.

Robert De Niro had received the same honor, which had been announced in advance, during the opening ceremony on May 13.