Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident Wins Palme d’Or; See Full List of Cannes 2025 Winners

Juliette Binoche’s Cannes jury has unveiled their winners for this year’s edition, awarding the Palme d’Or to Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, marking NEON’s sixth win in a row. Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value picked up the Grand Prize while Oliver Laxe’s Sirat and Mascha Schilinski’s The Sound of Falling tied for the Jury […] The post Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident Wins Palme d’Or; See Full List of Cannes 2025 Winners first appeared on The Film Stage.

May 25, 2025 - 11:05

Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident Wins Palme d’Or; See Full List of Cannes 2025 Winners

Juliette Binoche’s Cannes jury has unveiled their winners for this year’s edition, awarding the Palme d’Or to Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, marking NEON’s sixth win in a row. Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value picked up the Grand Prize while Oliver Laxe’s Sirat and Mascha Schilinski’s The Sound of Falling tied for the Jury Prize. The Secret Agent also picked up a rare two wins: Best Director for Kleber Mendonça Filho and Best Actor for Wagner Moura.

As Ryan Swen notes, “Jafar Panahi is only the fourth director—after Henri-Georges Clouzot, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Robert Altman—to win the big three film festival prizes: the Cannes Palme d’or, the Berlin Golden Bear, and the Venice Golden Lion, and the first Camera d’or winner to win the Palme.”

Leonardo Goi said in his review of It Was Just an Accident, “If you were handed over the man who destroyed your life and those of countless others––a psychopath who tortured, raped, and murdered in the name of a tyrannical system––what would you do? Would you exact revenge or do the impossible––forgive and set him free? It Was Just an Accident, Jafar Panahi’s first film since his release from prison in Iran, hinges on that excruciating dilemma. The story is easy enough to summarize; its emotional wallop defies facile description. In an unexpected stroke of luck, four Iranians who did time for protesting the regime manage to abduct the guard responsible for the unspeakable atrocities they suffered behind bars. Having knocked him unconscious, they shove him in a van and travel around, wondering what to do. The whole journey spans less than a day. By the time it wraps, Accident feels like content under pressure. Panahi welds scorching social critique to a masterful command of form: a devastating cry for justice, his latest also serves as a superb thriller. It is a towering achievement.”

See the full list of winners below and explore all our coverage here.

Palme d’Or
It Was Just an Accident, dir: Jafar Panahi

Grand Prize
Sentimental Value, dir: Joachim Trier

Best Actress
Nadia Melliti, La Petite Dernière

Best Director
Kleber Mendonça Filho, The Secret Agent

Jury Prize – tie
Sirat, dir: Oliver Laxe
The Sound of Falling, dir: Mascha Schilinski

Best Screenplay
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Young Mothers

Best Actor
Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

Special Prize
Resurrection, dir: Bi Gan

Camera d’Or
The President’s Cake, dir: Hassan Hadi

Special Mention, Camera d’Or
My Father’s Shadow, dir: Akinola Davies Jr

Short Film Palme d’Or
I’m Glad You’re Dead Now, dir: Tawfeek Barhom

Special Mention, Short Film
Ali, dir: Adnan Al Rajeev

The post Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident Wins Palme d’Or; See Full List of Cannes 2025 Winners first appeared on The Film Stage.