Jafar Panahi: An American Cinematheque Tribute

ABOUT THE SERIES:

The American Cinematheque is thrilled to welcome acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi in-person for the West Coast premiere of the 2025 Palme d’Or–winning IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT, as part of the 13th annual Beyond Fest. He will also appear in-person to discuss a selection of his early works, pulled from the various distinct periods of his artistic career. Internationally recognized as Iran’s preeminent dissident filmmaker, Panahi’s oeuvre has been characterized by his tendencies toward self-reflexivity, always in terms of the socio-political circumstances surrounding him, though progressively dealing directly with his own personal and artistic freedoms as well.

Panahi began his career serving as Assistant Director to legendary Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami during the filming of THROUGH THE OLIVE TREES in 1994. Panahi’s first feature, THE WHITE BALLOON – its script written by Kiarostami – won the Prix de la Camera d’Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first Iranian film to ever earn an award at the prestigious French festival. In his sophomore feature THE MIRROR, which won the Golden Leopard at the 50th annual Locarno Film Festival, Panahi enters his own frame, marking the first time he places himself into the story – a decision that would become a patented characteristic of his later work – and his first foray into hybrid filmmaking, by combining elements of reality and fiction. The next phase of Panahi’s career proved to be his most consequential. His first overt interrogation of Iranian society, particularly its treatment of women, THE CIRCLE – getting its name from the circular form of the interconnected stories of various women protagonists – won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2000. Capitalizing on the inherent applications of hybrid filmmaking and returning to direct a script written by Abbas Kiarostami, with the Cannes’ Jury Award winning CRIMSON GOLD, Panahi dissidently tackles Iran’s deep class divide through the crime genre, while employing non-actors to play versions of themselves, a tactic that would only intensify in his work to follow. CRIMSON GOLD, among other daring works made during this period, ultimately played a pivotal role in Panahi’s eventual prison-sentence and government-imposed 20-year ban from filmmaking directly following his collaboration with filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof on THE WHITE MEADOWS and his vocal support for nationwide protests opposing the government in 2009. Since his persecution, Jafar Panahi has directed 6 feature films, and with his latest Palme d’Or winning IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT, has joined renowned filmmakers Michelangelo Antonioni, Robert Altman, and Henri-Georges Clouzot as the only filmmakers to achieve the “triple crown” in his career, having now earned The Cannes Palme d’Or, the Berlin Golden Bear, and the Venice Golden Lion.