: Neon has picked up North American rights to Jafar Panahi’s well-received feature It Was Just an Accident, which had its world premiere in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this week.

It Was Just an Accident has a one-line synopsis that reads: “What begins as a minor accident sets in motion a series of escalating consequences.” The film, which has been one of the best-reviewed movies at the festival, deals in a fictional way with past wrongfully incarcerated working-class people seeking revenge against the guard who tortured and berated them. In his review, Deadline’s Pete Hammond called the movie “a powerful statement for humanity” that “serves as a warning that you better watch your back.” 

The Wednesday afternoon screening was met with a 10-minute ovation — and was highly significant because Panahi himself was in attendance, marking the first time he has been able to appear at the festival in over 20 years.

Panahi, whose credits also include The White Balloon, The Circle and Taxi, has spent most of his filmmaking career in the crosshairs of Iran’s authoritarian Islamic Republic government, including more than a decade facing multiple detentions, prison sentences, house arrests and filmmaking and travel bans.

He was released from his latest jail stint in February 2023, and in the production notes for It Was Just an Accident, he says: “The sentence that banned me from making films, writing, giving interviews and traveling has been officially annulled. But in practice, I remain on the margins. … I have no choice but to keep working outside the system.”

The filmmaker employed clandestine methods to shoot It Was Just an Accident and said that before wrapping, “plainclothes officers turned up and demanded all the footage. I refused. They continued to put pressure on us by threatening to arrest the crew and shut down production. In the end, they gave up. We paused the shoot for a while, then resumed. Nothing further happened.” 

Neon has a typically stacked Cannes lineup now, with other Palme d’Or contenders including A Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent.

Panahi’s first feature, The White Balloon (1995), was selected for Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, where it won the Caméra d’Or. He returned to th Croisette with 2003’s Crimson Gold, which played in Un Certain Regard and won the Jury Prize. Initially selected to represent Iran at the Oscars, Crimson Gold ultimately was banned by the authorities, preventing it from being shown in Iranian cinemas. 

It Was Just An Accident was produced by Jafar Panahi and Philippe Martin and co-produced by Sandrine Dumas and Christel Henon, with David Thion and Lilina Eche serving as associate producers. The film is a Les Films Pelléas and Jafar Panahi Production from Iran/France and Luxembourg. MK2 Films is representing the international sales rights to the film. The deal was negotiated by Neon’s Sarah Colvin and Jeff Deutchman with MK2 Films’ Fionnuala Jamison on behalf of the filmmakers.