“It Was Just an Accident” by Iranian director and author Jafar Panahi won the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, which concluded on Saturday, May 24. The festival was impacted by a power outage that disrupted traffic and some events in the Cannes area, but the closing ceremony proceeded as scheduled.
It Was Just an Accident is a sequel to The Bears Don’t Exist, which Panahi had presented at the Venice Film Festival in 2022, a few months after his arrest for making a film critical of Iran’s regime. Panahi for the first time was able to leave the country to attend a festival.
This is the latest success for indie distributor Neon, which holds North American rights for It Was Just an Accident, following former acquisitions of Palme winners Anora, Parasite, Titane, Anatomy of a Fall, and Triangle of Sadness.
The Jury Grand Prix went to the drama Affeksjonsverdi (Sentimental Value) directed by Norwegian director Joachim Trier. The Jury Prize was awarded jointly to Sirât, by French-Spanish director Oliver Laxe, and Sound of Falling, by German director Mascha Schilinski.
The best director award was won by Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho for The Secret Agent, a political thriller set in the 1970s during the years of the military dictatorship in Brazil. For the same film, Wagner Moura won the best actor award. The best actress award went to Nadia Melliti, star of La petite dernière by Algerian-born French director Hafsia Herzi.
The best screenplay award went to Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne for the film Jeunes Mères.
The complete list of winners is available here.
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