EXCLUSIVE.
Iranian director Jafar Panahi is a brave man. He tells me he will return to Tehran to face his jail sentence for promoting “propaganda” against the state.
Panahi says he’ll go back after Oscars season. His wonderful political film, “It Was Just An Accident,” won Best Feature, Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Film tonight at the Gotham Awards in New York. Previously the film had received the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Panahi has already spent time in an Iranian prison, so you’d think he wouldn’t want to revisit that experience. I asked one of his producers why he’d do this.
“Iranians are very loyal,” she said. “Also his family is there and he wants to be at hom
It sounds a lot like when Russian dissident Alexei Navalny returned home knowing he’d be arrested and imprisoned. He ultimately died in his Russian prison.
Panahi didn’t win his awards tonight for being a dissident. His court situation was largely unknown to the Gotham Awards guests and came after voting. His movie, “It Was Just An Accident,” is quite brilliant as a political statement, a thought provoking drama, and a morality tale. It takes unexpected turns and ends with a plot twist that leaves audiences talking, and maybe more.
If Panahi does go home, he’s faced with a one year prison sentence. Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran also slapped Panahi with a travel ban for “propaganda activities” against Iran.
Panahi previously spent 86 days in prison. He was arrested in July 2022 for going to the prosecutor’s office to inquire about Mohammad Rasoulof, a fellow Iranian director who had been arrested in May for participating in a protest.
He was released from the violent Evin prison only after staging a hunger strike.
The director is on the road to winning an Oscar for Best International Film. At this rate, “It Was Just An Accident” — which is about five inmates kidnapping their former prison torturer — may also be nominated for Best Picture. But it’s unlikely the Iranian government will celebrate those achievements.
