It Was Just an Accident

Despite facing censorship, imprisonment, and a 20-year filmmaking ban, Iranian director Jafar Panahi (Taxi) continues to create powerful works, many of them in secret. His latest, IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT, centers on Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), an unassuming mechanic, who has a chance encounter with Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi), a man he strongly suspects to be his former sadistic jailhouse captor. Panicked, Vahid gathers several former prisoners, all abused by that same captor, to try and confirm Eghbal's identity. As the bickering group drives around Tehran with the captive, they confront just how much they're willing to take matters into their own hands with their presumed tormentor. The film becomes a searing moral thriller that engages with complex ideas about the uncertainty of the truth and the choice between revenge and mercy as Panahi turns his personal dissonance into a profound and galvanizing work of art. The film received the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, making Panahi only the fourth filmmaker in history to win the top prize in Berlin, Cannes and Venice. IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT is France's submission to the Oscar for Best International Feature.

Presentation of MFF's Impact Award and conversation with Jafar Panahi following the Friday screening.