Jafar Panahi used a sweep at the Gotham Awards in New York to spotlight colleagues under censorship, dedicating his Best Original Screenplay prize for It Was Just an Accident to filmmakers “deprived of the right to see and to be seen” on the same day Iran sentenced him in absentia to one year in prison and imposed a two-year travel ban.
Accepting the screenplay honor by video, Panahi praised “filmmakers who keep the camera rolling in silence without support and, at times, risking everything they have, only with their faith in truth and humanity,” and asked that his award be seen as a small tribute to those denied the chance to show or even watch films. His revenge drama, shot covertly inside Iran, also took Best Director and Best International Film, while Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another won Best Feature, tying Panahi’s statement of solidarity to one of the industry’s key awards-season launch pads.
Hours earlier in Tehran, a Revolutionary Court convicted the 65-year-old director of “propaganda activities” against the state, handed down a one-year prison term and barred him from travel and participation in political or social groups for two years. Human rights monitors say the case punishes his public criticism of Iran’s rulers and his support for the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests, while Iranian authorities frame the verdict as enforcement of national security laws. His lawyer has signaled an appeal, but the ruling revives a legal shadow that has followed him since a 2010 sentence of six years in prison and a 20-year ban on filmmaking and foreign travel.
Panahi’s Gotham recognition arrives after a watershed year. It Was Just an Accident, made without official permission and inspired by stories from his fellow prisoners, won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in May and was selected by France as its submission for the 2026 international Oscar race. The film, which features women on screen without compulsory hijab, has played widely on the festival circuit and opened in U.S. theaters in October, giving audiences direct contact with his portrayal of trauma, revenge and moral doubt inside contemporary Iran.
In interviews this autumn, speaking briefly from Los Angeles after partial relaxation of earlier bans, Panahi rejected the “hero” label, saying he simply insists on the right to make films in his own country and arguing that Oscar rules should not tie filmmakers’ fates to their governments. Support from high-profile directors, including public backing at festivals, has amplified his case abroad, yet he has repeatedly said he plans to return to Iran rather than live in exile. With Gotham voters honoring his work on the same night a new sentence was announced, Panahi now stands as both a leading contender in the upcoming awards season and a filmmaker again facing the risk of prison for the act of keeping a camera rolling.
