Neon‘s latest Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner, It Was Just An Accident from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi will open October 15 in theaters in North America, setting the film up for an awards campaign in categories including Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and International Film. The latter, however, might be in question as it seems unlikely that Panahi’s film, which is critical of Iran‘s government and treatment of its citizens, would be selected by the country as its official Oscar entry for the International Feature Film competition.
Following the pattern Neon head Tom Quinn explained to me for Deadline’s Cannes Disruptors issue in May, this film, which marks the sixth consecutive Palme d’Or win for Neon, will follow what he openly calls his “playbook” and emulate the release pattern employed for the company’s past two Palme d’Or/Oscar Best Picture winners, 2024’s Anora and 2019’s Parasite. The film recently received the prestigious Sydney Film Prize at the 72nd Sydney Film Festival. Neon acquired North American rights to Panahi’s film in Cannes and is separating it, release-wise, from Joaquin Trier’s Sentimental Value, its Cannes Grand Prize winner (second place) that, as recently announced, will open domestically on November 7.
Inspired by Panahi’s second Iranian incarceration, It Was Just An Accident follows what begins as a minor traffic accident as it sets in motion a series of escalating consequences. The film was produced by 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 represents the international rights to the film.
The distributor notes that with the film’s recent Palme d’Or win at Cannes, Panahi has become only the fourth director to ever to completed the European festival triple crown, having won the top prize at all three major European film festivals – Venice, Berlin and Cannes – in his career. He received the Golden Lion in Venice for The Circle in 2000 and Berlin’s Golden Bear for Taxi in 2015.
It Was Just an Accident marks the second collaboration between Neon and Panahi, following The Year of the Everlasting Storm. Continuing its strong support for international cinema, in Cannes last year Neon picked up The Seed of the Sacred Fig from exiled Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, which went on to be nominated for a BAFTA and for Best International Feature at the 97th Academy Awards. However, that film, was not looked on favorably by Iran either and instead became Germany’s official Oscar entry due to its filmmaker’s German residency.
RELATED: Is There A Route To The Oscars For Jafar Panahi’s ‘It Was Just An Accident’ Following Palme D’Or Win?
Jafar Panahi won the 2025 Palme d’Or for ‘It Was Just an Accident’ at Cannes in 2025.
Lionel Hahn/Getty Images
As Deadline pointed out at the time of its Cannes win last month, its strong connection to French distributors, and the fact that Panahi’s daughter lives in France might make a similar case for that country to enter this very Iranian film as its official selection, but that seems highly unlikely. Iran’s Islamic Republic government likely will block it because, aside from Panahi’s outspoken stance against its stranglehold on democracy that has landed him in prison twice, the film is highly critical of Iran’s penal system on the back of the director’s own firsthand experiences. Thus, a campaign directed toward the other categories is most likely.
Current events surrounding Iran and the United States make for a potentially volatile political situation that also might have an effect on the film’s awards-season campaign, including whether its director — who is determined to live in Iran — can even support it in person. His status to even travel outside of the country might be in question, though he did go to Cannes, and particularly to the U.S., which has imposed a travel ban on citizens from several countries including Iran.
Stay tuned.
Content shared from deadline.com.