Euronews Culture's Film of the Week: 'It Was Just An Accident' - Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or winner - video Dailymotion

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Euronews Culture's Film of the Week: 'It Was Just An Accident' - Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or winner  Dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi's first film since being released from prison for “endangering national security” won this year's Palme d'Or. It's a tonally rich masterwork that will represent France at next year's Academy Awards. Euronews Culture crossing its fingers for an Oscar win.   READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/10/03/euronews-cultures-film-of-the-week-it-was-just-an-accident-jafar-panahis-palme-dor-winner  Spark your senses, wake your wonder. Euronews Culture seeks to show creativity in action and inspire our audience to explore the world through the five senses. Start your journey through the best of Europe's arts, gastronomy, traditions and high-end craftsmanship.

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00:00Looking back at the Palme d'Or winner, the Iranian dissident Jafar Pahani and his film It Was Just an Accident.

00:06David, he's not a household name, but he's a very revered director.

00:11Tell us, for people who don't know anything at all about him, what's his background?

00:15Well, as you said, It Was Just an Accident won the Palme d'Or, and it's the first film since 1997 to do so,

00:22and at the time it was Taste of Cherry by Abbas Kiyostami.

00:26And Jafar Pahani is one of Iran's just greatest filmmaker, alongside the likes of Mohammed Rasulov, for instance,

00:36and he is somebody who has clashed with the repressive Iranian authorities for many, many years now.

00:42He was placed under house arrest, arrested for endangering national security, and banned from travel.

00:49And in 2022, he was imprisoned for supporting his fellow filmmaker, Mohammed Rasulov,

00:58and later went on a hunger strike and was released a year later.

01:02And it was just an accident. It's his first film since then.

01:06David, you've had the chance to see the film. Tell us, what's it about?

01:09It tells the story of a family, a father and mother and their daughter,

01:14who are in a car who accidentally run over a dog, and the car breaks down and fortuitously breaks down in front of a shop

01:23where one person there offers to help out, and another person there, Bahid,

01:29seems to have a very visceral reaction to the father coming into the shop.

01:35And he recognizes a noise, which seems to come from the father's prosthetic leg.

01:42And he believes that this is the man who is an intelligence officer, or who was an intelligence officer,

01:50who previously tortured him.

01:53And because of this uncertainty, but this very visceral reaction he has,

01:59he kidnaps the father and plans to bury him alive.

02:03But because of the protestations from the father figure, the seeds of doubt are sown.

02:12So what he does is goes off and seeks help and advice from other victims of this potential monster.

02:20People like a photographer, a bride-to-be and her husband,

02:24and this live wire of a man who is the only one who can positively identify the potential torturer

02:31because he has seen him without being blindfolded like the others were, therefore the doubt.

02:40And essentially it's a film about the price of revenge,

02:44whether you should use violence to combat violence,

02:48what it does to your own humanity,

02:51how you can escape the trauma that has been inflicted,

02:54and whether that's at all possible.

02:57And it is, like I said, a taut, a gripping film, utterly engrossing.

03:03And one that surprised me in the sense that it's actually very humorous.

03:08There's some slapstick elements to this.

03:10And it is something which is rather remarkable in the sense that it talks about these very powerful things,

03:18these very dark things,

03:20but at the same time does so in a way that recalls Waiting for Godot,

03:24which is mentioned in the film,

03:26but also as if Waiting for Godot was spliced with Weekend at Bernie's.

03:30And I'll say one more thing without spoiling the film at all.

03:34Not only is it a very richly deserved poem,

03:37but the ending left my jaw on the floor.

03:42It's one of those moments, it's a very simply filmed scene

03:46and uses sound to a devastating effect.

03:50And it is almost like a horror film.

Euronews Culture's Film of the Week: 'It Was Just An Accident' - Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or winner

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