Jafar Panahi named Busan’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year

Iran’s Jafar Panahi has been named Asian Filmmaker of the Year by Busan International Film Festival, recognising his contribution to the Asian film industry.

The honour will be presented at the opening ceremony of BIFF’s 30^th edition, which is set to take place on September 17 at the Busan Cinema Center in South Korea.

Panahi won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in May with his latest feature, It Was Just An Accident, which also scooped the Sydney Film Prize last month and is set to screen at Locarno and Toronto film festivals.

He is the first Asian director to win the top prize at all three leading European film festivals, having previously won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale for Taxi in 2015 and the Golden Lion at Venice for The Circle in 2002.

Panahi said of the Busan award: “At a time when making films in my country becomes more difficult every day, this recognition reminds me that cinema can still connect us beyond borders, languages, and limitations. I not only accept this award in my own name, but also on behalf of all those who, in silence, in exile, or under pressure, continue to create.”

It Was Just An Accident was inspired by the dissident director’s time in prison and was filmed in secret in Iran. It follows a man, his heavily pregnant wife, and their young daughter as they get into a minor car accident that sets off a dark chain of events and shows scenes of torture in Iranian jails.

Panahi was arrested in Tehran in July 2022 and ordered to serve the six-year sentence after going to the prosecutors’ office with colleagues and lawyers to inquire about the earlier arrest of Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof. He was released in February 2023.

Cannes marked Panahi’s first appearance at an international film festival in 15 years, and his first film since his release from prison.

The filmmaker was prevented from travelling by the Iranian government in 2009 after he attended the funeral of a student killed during the country’s Green Revolution, later attempting to make a film themed around the uprising.

The following year, Panahi’s request to travel to the Berlinale – where he had been invited to sit on a panel about Iranian cinema – was denied and he was later arrested and given a six-year suspended prison sentence as well as a 20-year ban on travel and filmmaking for criticising the Iranian government. He served two months in prison before being granted a conditional release.

Despite the ban, he made features such as This Is Not A Film, which was smuggled out of the country and screened at Cannes in 2011, with Panahi awarded the Carrosse d’Or. His drama No Bears played in Competition at Venice in 2022 and won a special jury prize.

The director previously attended the 8^th BIFF in 2003 with Crimson Gold.

The 30th edition of the festival is set to run from September 17-26.

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