Jafar Panahi

Jafar Panahi (born in 1960 in Mianeh, Iran) studied at Iran Broadcasting University and assisting Abbas Kiarostami. He gained international recognition with his debut feature The White Balloon (1995), which won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes. His films often focus on issues like women’s rights and social injustice in Iran. Despite facing censorship, imprisonment, and a 20-year filmmaking ban, Panahi continued to create works —many in secret — including This Is Not a Film, Closed Curtain, 3 Faces, and No Bears. After a brief imprisonment in 2022, he was released in 2023 following a hunger strike. In 2025, his It Was Just an Accident won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, making him only the fourth filmmaker in history to win the top prize at Berlin, Cannes, and Venice.