Jafar Panahi said he expects to return to the United States “very soon” after visa processing delays forced him to miss early October events, including tributes at Bay Area and New York festivals tied to his Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident. Organizers in California cited federal backlogs linked to recent U.S. policy changes that narrowed interview-waiver eligibility and pushed more applicants into in-person appointments, slowing approvals across categories. Panahi’s team is now working toward appearances later in the month aligned with awards screenings and the film’s U.S. platform rollout.
The Iranian director, long constrained by domestic travel and filming bans, has been promoting the new feature internationally following its Cannes win and fall festival slots. The New York Film Festival billed the title as a main slate selection, describing it as a revenge drama that earned Panahi the top prize at Cannes; U.S. programmers have positioned his presence as an important part of the conversation around the film’s method and message.
In recent interviews, Panahi outlined how he shot the picture with a tiny crew, pausing after early footage triggered arrests and hiding material before resuming production. He framed the project as an act of persistence in a tightening climate for independent filmmakers in Iran, while noting that post-release scrutiny of colleagues has intensified since the 2022 protests. The film’s minimal setup—a van, a captive, and former prisoners uncertain about the man they’ve seized—folds questions of justice and doubt into a spare thriller structure.
Visa timing has become a practical hurdle for the filmmaker’s U.S. travel at the start of awards season. The State Department confirmed a rollback of broad interview waivers this fall, a shift that consular experts say has lengthened queues and complicated itineraries for many international artists and industry guests. Festival organizers in the Bay Area said they plan to host Panahi once paperwork clears, adding that screenings will proceed as scheduled.
