Gotham Awards: Jafar Panahi Wins Hours After Prison Sentence
“It Was Just an Accident” directed by Jafar Panahi
New York — The Gotham Film Awards in New York belonged to a voice the Ayatollahs of Iran have desperately tried to silence: Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi emerged as the night's most resonant figure, accepting three major awards mere hours after being sentenced to prison by the Iranian regime.
Just before the event started he told us about his sentence: "I learned about it one hour ago." When we asked Panahi if he would nevertheless return to Iran, he replied: “I always went back, and I will go back again,” while also reminding us of his friend, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who is currently imprisoned.
Panahi’s "It Was Just An Accident" swept the categories for Best International Feature, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. Yet, as he stood virtually before his peers in New York, the shadow of Tehran loomed large: the Islamic Revolutionary Court had sentenced him in absentia to one year in prison, a two-year travel ban, and a prohibition on social and political group membership for "propaganda activities against the system".
The contrast between the ballroom’s applause and the courtroom’s verdict provided the emotional centre of the night. Panahi, wearing dark glasses and speaking through a translator, did not dwell on his own persecution but rather turned the spotlight on those still in the shadows. Dedicating his Best Original Screenplay award to his colleagues, Panahi delivered a moving tribute:
"I would like to dedicate the honor of this award to independent filmmakers in Iran and around the world... filmmakers who keep the camera rolling in silence, without support, and at times, by risking everything they have, only with their faith in truth and humanity."
He continued, expressing hope that the award would serve as "a small tribute to all filmmakers who have been deprived of the right to see and to be seen but continue to create and to exist." The audience responded with two standing ovations, recognising that Panahi’s presence was not just a victory for cinema, but a deliberate act of civil disobedience.
A Decades-Long Struggle for Expression
This latest sentence is merely the newest chapter in Panahi’s long standoff with Iran’s authoritarian government. Since 2010, when he was first banned from filmmaking and leaving the country for supporting anti-government protests, Panahi has become a symbol of artistic tenacity.
Despite a 20-year filmmaking ban, he has continued to work in secret. In 2011, he famously smuggled his documentary "This is Not a Film" to Cannes on a flash drive hidden inside a cake. His 2015 film "Taxi" won the Golden Bear in Berlin while he remained officially forbidden from working.
His winning film, "It Was Just An Accident", Iran’s entry for the 2026 Oscars, reflects this turbulence. Inspired by his own imprisonment, the film tells the story of five former inmates contemplating revenge on a man they believe to be their former torturer. Like his recent works, it was shot illegally without a permit, a direct challenge to the censorship laws he continues to defy.
A Brotherhood Behind Bars
Panahi’s struggle is inextricably linked to that of his peer and fellow dissident, Mohammad Rasoulof. The bond between the two directors highlights the collective punishment faced by Iran's artistic community.
In July 2022, Panahi was arrested not for making a film, but for an act of solidarity. He had gone to the prosecutor’s office in Tehran specifically to inquire about the whereabouts and condition of Rasoulof, who had been detained days earlier for criticising state violence. Authorities seized the opportunity to imprison Panahi on the spot, enforcing a dormant six-year sentence from 2010.
While Panahi eventually secured release after a hunger strike, Rasoulof was forced to make a harrowing escape from Iran on foot to avoid a flogging and an eight-year prison sentence. His resulting film, "The Seed of the Sacred Fig", became a global sensation for its raw depiction of the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests. Recognising the immense courage required to produce such a work, Cinema for Peace honoured "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" with "The Most Valuable Film of the Year" Award in 2025.
These cases are not anomalies but part of a systematic campaign. Iran’s prisons currently hold numerous artists whose only crime is refusing to look away. By targeting figures like Panahi and Rasoulof, the regime attempts to sever the link between the Iranian people and the storytellers who validate their suffering.
Best Documentary: Julia Loktev’s "My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow" was honoured for its portrait of independent journalists labelled "foreign agents" by Putin’s regime—a direct thematic echo of Panahi’s struggle against state-controlled narratives.
"The Seed of Sacred Fig" directed by Mohammad Rasoulof