Iran's Panahi pokes fun at Iran's jailers in Cannes comeback

CANNES

Dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi makes his first appearance at an international film festival in 15 years at Cannes on Tuesday with a story about political prisoners trying to get their own back on their jailers.

Panahi was banned from making films and has been repeatedly detained since 2009 over his gritty, social dramas, considered subversive by the Islamic republic's regime.

His new film, "It Was Just An Accident," which is in the running for Cannes's top prize, uses humor to point up injustice, he said in the run-up to the premiere.

The director said his own time in prison helped color the wry tale.

A second Iranian film is competing in the top Cannes competition this year, "Mother and Child" by Saeed Roustaee.

Roustaee was sentenced to six months in prison for the screening of his film "Leila's Brothers" in Cannes in 2022 but his latest production has drawn criticism from some exiled directors.

The film's screening in Cannes has been hailed by Iranian state media, including the state news agency IRNA.

Panahi's appearance comes at one of the most political Cannes for many years, dominated by protest over the war in Gaza, sexual politics and U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on movies from "foreign lands."

Tensions have even spilled over onto the red carpet with a ban on too-revealing "naked dresses" and "voluminous" trains that take up too much space.

And on May 19 night a tense exchange with a photographer took some of the joy from Hollywood star Denzel Washington's lifetime achievement award.

The surprise honorary Palme d'Or was handed to Washington, 70, at the premiere of his latest film with New York director Spike Lee, "Highest 2 Lowest" — the first time the actor has appeared at the festival.

The photographer appeared to grab the actor by the arm as he posed in front of a bank of cameras.

Washington shook him off and then pointed his finger at him and appeared to say "Stop it" a number of times, videos showed. But despite the awkward incident, Washington's mood was no doubt lifted by the rave reviews of his and Lee's film.

Loosely adapted from a Japanese master Akira Kurosawa's 1963 classic, "High and Low," the Hollywood Reporter said the film had "wit, high style and kinetic energy to burn."

The film festival runs till May 25.