Cannes Film Festival: Jafar Panahi wins Palme d'Or for It Was Just an Accident, Sentimental Value gets Grand Prix

May 24, 2025 11:27 PM IST

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The jury, headed by Juliette Binoche, awarded two awards to The Secret Agent: Best Actor for Wagner Moura and Best Director for Kleber Mendonça Filho.Jafar Panahi clinches Palme d’Or Other winners

The jury, headed by Juliette Binoche, awarded two awards to The Secret Agent: Best Actor for Wagner Moura and Best Director for Kleber Mendonça Filho.

The Cannes Film Festival handed over the official awards during the closing ceremony of the 78th edition on the last day. The president of the main jury Juliette Binoche announced that the top prize of the festival went to It Was Just an Accident, directed by acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi. (Also read: Alia Bhatt stuns in a sultry saree for the closing ceremony of Cannes Film Festival)

Iranian director and screenwriter and producer Jafar Panahi delivers a speech after winning the Palme d’Or for the film “Un simple accident” (A Simple Accident) during the closing ceremony at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 24, 2025. (Photo by Sameer AL-DOUMY / AFP)(AFP)

Jafar Panahi clinches Palme d’Or

Jafar Panahi returned to Cannes after a 14-year travel ban by the Iranian government with this new feature film. He had first come to Cannes in 1995 with The White Balloon, which won the Camera d’Or. In the next few years, he premiered Crimson Gold which won the Jury Award in 2003, This is Not a Film in 2011, and 3 Faces in 2018 which won Best Screenplay.

Iranian director and screenwriter and producer Jafar Panahi (C) poses on stage with Australian actress Cate Blanchett (L) and French actress and president of the jury of the 78th cannes film festival Juliette Binoche after winning the Palme d'Or for the film "Un simple accident" (A Simple Accident) during the closing ceremony at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 24, 2025. (Photo by Sameer AL-DOUMY / AFP)(AFP) — Iranian director and screenwriter and producer Jafar Panahi (C) poses on stage with Australian actress Cate Blanchett (L) and French actress and president of the jury of the 78th cannes film festival Juliette Binoche after winning the Palme d’Or for the film “Un simple accident” (A Simple Accident) during the closing ceremony at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 24, 2025. (Photo by Sameer AL-DOUMY / AFP)(AFP)

Panahi also joined the elite list of filmmakers to have won the top prize in three of the prestigious film festivals in the world: Venice, Cannes and Berlin. He now joins the club of Henri-Georges Clouzot, Robert Altman and Michelangelo Antinioni, with the Palme win. Panahi won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for The Circle (2000) and the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Offside (2006).

Other winners

Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, which wowed Cannes and received a whooping 19-minute standing ovation, took home the second big award of the night- the Grand Prix. The acting awards went to Nadia Melliti for The Little Sister and Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent. Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho won best director for the film.

Director Joachim Trier, Grand Prix award winner for the film film "Affeksjonsverdi" (Sentimental Value - Valeur Sentimentale), poses with Coralie Fargeat during the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 24, 2025. REUTERS/Manon Cruz(REUTERS) — Director Joachim Trier, Grand Prix award winner for the film film “Affeksjonsverdi” (Sentimental Value – Valeur Sentimentale), poses with Coralie Fargeat during the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 24, 2025. REUTERS/Manon Cruz(REUTERS)

Meanwhile, Cannes veterans Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne won Best Screenplay for Young Mothers. The Jury Prize was a tie, and went to Olivier Laxe for Sirat and Mascha Schilinski’s The Sound of Falling. A special jury prize was given to Bi Gan for Resurrection.

This year Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia was part of the main competition jury. Her 2024 film All We Imagine As Light took home the Grand Prix last year.