Iranian Director Jafar Panahi Breaks Decade-Long Travel Ban for US Premiere

On October 19, 2025, Iranian director Jafar Panahi made his first appearance in the United States in two decades to promote his latest film, "It Was Just An Accident," which recently won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Panahi, who has been imprisoned in Iran several times for his work, was previously forbidden from traveling abroad for years.

Distributor Neon, which has released the Cannes prize winners since 2019, including "Parasite," "Titane," "Triangle of Sadness," and "Anatomy of a Fall," opened Panahi's film to a $68,000 weekend on three screens. The company is aiming to build awards buzz for the darkly comic drama, following a similar slow-rollout strategy it used for previous Cannes winners.

Neon sees the Cannes prize as a signifier of something special that can quickly attract a core audience. The distributor is hoping for a "snowball effect" with strong press and word-of-mouth as the awards season picks up. "It Was Just An Accident" is expected to add more runs in Los Angeles and open in San Francisco and a few other markets next week, though Neon is keeping a small footprint, trusting that awards buzz will help build a long tail for the film.