Jafar Panahi wins the Palme d’Or for It Was Just an Accident
- CANNES 2025: The Grand Prix has gone to Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, and other accolades to The Secret Agent, Mascha Schilinski, Oliver Laxe, Nadia Melliti, the Dardenne brothers and Bi Gan
After a competition boasting a very high level of quality overall, without any clear favourite having emerged, and after an epic final Saturday with a blackout having paralysed the entire city for five hours, the main jury (presided over by Juliette Binoche) of the 78th Cannes Film Festival has delivered a relatively conservative winners’ list and made history by handing the Palme d’Or to It Was Just an Accident [+see also:
film review
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film profile] by Jafar Panahi. The Iranian filmmaker (who won the Best Screenplay Award on the Croisette in 2018 with 3 Faces) has thus pulled off a hat-trick after his Golden Bear at Berlin in 2015 for Taxi and his Golden Lion at Venice in 2000 for The Circle, a feat achieved only by a select few: Michelangelo Antonioni, Robert Altman and Henri-Georges Clouzot. Panahi is the second filmmaker from his country to have won Cannes’ top prize, after Abbas Kiarostami did so in 1997 with Taste of Cherry.
The Grand Prix was bestowed upon Sentimental Value [+see also:
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film profile] by Norway’s Joachim Trier (whose The Worst Person in the World [+see also:
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interview: Joachim Trier
film profile] scooped the Best Actress Award in 2021).
The third big winner at this edition was The Secret Agent [+see also:
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film profile] by Brazil’s Kleber Mendonça Filho (many a critics’ favourite), which took home two gongs: the Best Director Award for the filmmaker himself and the Best Actor Award for his fellow countryman Wagner Moura.
There was a big surprise in store when it came to the winner of the Best Actress Award, which went to France’s Nadia Melliti for her first-ever film role, in The Little Sister [+see also:
film review
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interview: Hafsia Herzi
film profile] by her fellow countrywoman Hafsia Herzi.
Seemingly confirming the rumour that the jury had had problems agreeing on the winners’ list, a double Jury Prize was handed out to the revelation Sound of Falling [+see also:
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film profile] by Germany’s Mascha Schilinski and the explosive Sirât [+see also:
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interview: Óliver Laxe
film profile] by Spaniard Oliver Laxe, while a Special Award acknowledged the sheer visual audacity of Chinese director Bi Gan’s Resurrection [+see also:
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film profile].
As is their wont, Belgium’s Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne were once again somewhere among the Cannes awardees (having won eight prizes in total), this time with the Best Screenplay Award for Young Mothers [+see also:
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interview: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
film profile], a reward that they previously pocketed in 2008 for Lorna’s Silence [+see also:
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interview: Arta Dobroshi
interview: Arta Dobroshi
interview: Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne
interview: Olivier Bronckart
film profile].
It’s also worth noting that the Caméra d’Or singled out The President’s Cake by Iraq’s Hasan Hadi (unveiled in the Directors’ Fortnight), and a Special Mention went to My Father's Shadow [+see also:
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interview: Akinola Davies Jr
film profile] by UK-Nigerian helmer Akinola Davies Jr (presented in Un Certain Regard).
Last but not least, the Short Film Palme d’Or was granted to I'm Glad You're Dead Now by Palestinian actor-director Tawfeek Barhom, with a Special Mention going to Ali by Bangladeshi director Adnan Al Rajeev.
Here is the full list of award winners:
Competition
Palme d'Or
It Was Just an Accident [+see also:
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film profile] - Jafar Panahi (France/Luxembourg/Iran)
Grand Prix
Sentimental Value [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] - Joachim Trier (Norway/France/Denmark/Germany)
Jury Prize
Sirât [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Óliver Laxe
film profile] - Óliver Laxe (Spain/France)
Sound of Falling [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Mascha Schilinski (Germany)
Best Director
Kleber Mendonça Filho - The Secret Agent [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Brazil/France)
Best Actress
Nadia Melliti - The Little Sister [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Hafsia Herzi
film profile] (France/Germany)
Best Actor
Wagner Moura - The Secret Agent
Best Screenplay
Young Mothers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
film profile] - Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgium/France)
Special Award
Resurrection [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] - Bi Gan (China/France)
Non-section-specific awards
Caméra d'Or
The President's Cake - Hasan Hadi (Irak/USA/Qatar)
Special Mention
My Father's Shadow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Akinola Davies Jr
film profile] - Akinola Davies Jr (UK/Ireland/Nigeria)
Short Films Competition
Palme d'Or for Best Short Film
I'm Glad You're Dead Now - Tawfeek Barhom (Palestine/France/Greece)
Special Mention
Ali - Adnan Al Rajeev (Bangladesh/Philippines)
(Translated from French)
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