Jafar Panahi and Saeed Roustayee Are Both in Cannes in Banner Year for Iranian Cinema on the Croisette

Dissident Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi on Tuesday walked up the Montées des Marches steps of the Cannes Film Festival‘s red carpet for the world premiere of his surreptitiously shot new film “It Was Just an Accident, marking a historic moment that follows a 14-year ban on making films, giving interviews and travelling abroad.

Panahi – who is known globally for prizewinning works such as “The Circle,” “Offside,” “This is Not a Film,” “Taxi,” and most recently “No Bears” – was arrested in 2023 in Tehran in the wake of the country’s conservative government crackdown and incarcerated for nearly seven months on charges of “propaganda against the system.”

His ban was lifted by Iranian authorities in April 2023. Panahi’s presence in Cannes appears to be a signal to the outside world that Iran is, at least cosmetically, changing its course amid escalating tensions following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022 while she was held in custody for allegedly wearing a loose hijab.

“It Was Just an Accident,” which was shot in Iran without a permit, features women on screen who are not wearing a hijab, reflecting current widespread rebellion against the mandatory hijab rule across the country.

By contrast, the women in Saeed Roustayee’s “Woman and Child” are all veiled. “Woman and Child” – which will premiere in Cannes with the director in tow on Thursday – segues from the director’s “Leila’s Brothers” that launched from Cannes in 2022. The film’s veiled women are significant aspect for which Roustayee, himself a dissident who in 2023 was sentenced to six months in prison for screening “Leila’s Brothers” at Cannes though he did not go behind bars – has come under fire from some Iranian industry circles who basically claim he sold out to the Iranian government. A claim Roustayee vehemently rejects.

Roustayee has recently been passionately defended against these accusations by fellow Iranian helmer Mohammad Rasoulof who in May 2024 escaped from Iran to Europe after receiving a jail sentence from the country’s authorities for making “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” which premiered at Cannes with the director in tow last year.

“My fourth film is about a woman who stands up to all the men facing her, and to a patriarchal society that strips her of all her rights including the right to be a mother,” Roustayee said in a statement to Variety.

“The hijab is not my choice but it is part of our life in Iran. It’s a law forced on women but we’ve grown used to resisting from within, for freedom,” he added.