It Was Just an Accident

Yek tasadof-e sadeh

Director: Jafar Panahi
Country: Iran, France, Luxembourg

2025 | 102 min. | Persian
Subtitles: German, English

Cast_ Vahid Mobasseri, Maryam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi Screenplay_ Jafar Panahi Camera_ Amin Jafari Producer_ Jafar Panahi, Philippe Martin Rights_ MUBI

A tense, utterly dramatic and, above all, compelling parable of an oppressed country. Jafar Panahi’s big winner at Cannes!

When Vahid, a garage mechanic, hears the scraping sound of a man dragging his foot, he’s shaken to the core. He believes he’s recognised the gait of one of the regime’s torturers, who tormented him in prison. But as he kidnaps the man and is about to take revenge, he has second thoughts. So he hauls him off to friends who have also been in prison so they can help him identify the man. Things get rough and, in the end, utterly dramatic.

A stirring parable that celebrates humanity through humour, about the moral dilemmas of living together in a repressive country.

Director

Jafar Panahi, one of the pre-eminent filmmakers of our time, remains a keen observer of his home country. Since the beginning of his career, he has been subjected to travel bans and house arrest, sentenced to several years in prison and barred from his profession. Yet he has continued to make films. ›A Simple Accident‹ was shot covertly in Iran. It earned the Palme d’Or this year.

Trailer

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