Jafar Panahi

Jafar Panâhi (Persian: جعفر پناهی, [d͡ʒæˈfæɾ pænɒːˈhiː]) (born 11 July 1960) is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is known internationally for his contributions to Iranian cinema and has received numerous awards at major film festivals, including the Palme d'Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival for It Was Just an Accident, the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for Taxi (2015), and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for The Circle (2000). These accolades make him the fourth filmmaker — after Henri-Georges Clouzot, Michelangelo Antonioni and Robert Altman — to win the top prizes at the Big Three film festivals.

Panahi began his career making short films and working as an assistant to Abbas Kiarostami. His debut feature, The White Balloon (1995), won the Caméra d'Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, marking the first major award for an Iranian film at that event. He has since been associated with the Iranian New Wave and often explores themes of social injustice and restrictions, political oppression, and the experiences of marginalized individuals in Iran.

His films have frequently been banned in Iran, and his career has been marked by conflict with Iranian authorities. In 2010, he was arrested and later sentenced to six years in prison and a 20-year ban on filmmaking and travel. Despite these restrictions, he continued to produce films, including This Is Not a Film (2011), which was smuggled out of Iran for screening at Cannes.

Other notable works include The Mirror (1997), Offside (2006), Closed Curtain (2013), 3 Faces (2018) and No Bears (2022).