Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi has won the top award at the 72nd Sydney Film Festival with It Was Just An Accident, three weeks after scooping the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
The award was presented on Sunday (June 15) at Sydney’s State Theatre and includes a cash prize of $39,000 (A$60,000).
Scroll down for full list of winners
The competition jury, led by Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel, presented the award in unorthodox fashion as the jurors walked off the stage at the grand 2,000-seat theatre and into the audience to hand the trophy to Panahi – an acknowledgement of his distress at Israel’s attack on Iran two days earlier.
The jury, which also included New Zealand actor-director Rachel House, producer and Marrakech Film Festival director Melita Toscan du Plantier, Australian actor-writer Thomas Weatherall, and Hong Kong-based film distributor Winnie Tsang, took into account films that were “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous”.
It Was Just An Accident marks Panahi’s first feature since his release from prison in Iran in February 2023 after seven months’ incarceration. Inspired by that time, the story deals uses comic undertones to address dark events as a man recalls torture and imprisonment, while giving several former political prisoners a chance for revenge against a brutal captor — unsure they have got the right man.
Panahi presented some of the screenings in a 10-film retrospective of his work at the festival before the Israel-Iran conflict suddenly escalated on June 13. He then ceased appearances, including at the three weekend sessions of It Was Just An Accident. He did, however, give a masterclass.
Following the awards on Sunday, the festival closed with the Australian premiere of Michael Angelo Covino’s sex comedy Splitsville.
Further prizes saw the Sustainable Future Award – the biggest environmental film prize in the world at $26,000 (A$40,000) – go to Jordan Giusti’s documentary Floodland. The film explores the impact of repeated floods on residents of the northern NSW town of Lismore, the writer/director’s hometown, and received its world premiere at Sydney.
The First Nations Award – the largest global prize for indigenous filmmaking at $22,800 (A$35,000) – went to Lisa Jackson’s Canadian hybrid documentary Wilfred Buck, which centres on the titular Cree educator, knowledge keeper and elder.
Shalom Almond’s Songs Inside picked up the Documentary Australia Award, worth $13,000 ($20,000). The film chronicles how learning music and writing songs – and performing with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra – has helped a group of incarcerated women get back on their feet. It previously won the audience award at Adelaide Film Festival.
Record-breaking attendance
Sydney Film Festival CEO Frances Wallace said this year’s edition, which ran from June 4-15, was the highest selling edition in its 72-year history. The 150,000 attendees represented a 11% increase on 2024. One-third of the 448 screenings and events were sold out.
Even before the deadline, audience voting on the 242 selected films had also broken the record.
On the closing night of the festival, Australian politician and New South Wales treasurer Daniel Mookhey said that more than $65m (A$100m) will go towards a capital fund to find partners and a location for a second Sydney film studio.
Space is in short supply due to the existing re-named Disney Studios not being as accessible since being taken over by 20th Century Fox. Production was being pushed into warehouses or to Victoria “which is worse”, he added.
Mookhey added that Australia’s screen and digital games industry is worth $780m (A$1.2bn) and supports more than 13,500 jobs. With the extra commitment, the government contribution for 2025/26 will be $247.5m (A$380m).
Sydney Film Festival 2025 winners
Sydney Film Prize: It Was Just An Accident (Iran-Fr-Lux) dir. Jafar Panahi
Sustainable Future Award: Floodland (Australia) dir. Jordan Giusti
First Nations Award: Wilfred Buck (Can) dir. Lisa Jackson
Documentary Australia Award: Songs Inside (Australia) dir. Shalom Almond
UNESCO Sydney City of Film Award: Wayne Pashley and Libby Villa of Big Bang Sound
Dendy Australian short film award winners
Dendy live action short: Faceless dir. Fraser Pemberton, William Jaka
Yoram Gross Animation Award: The Fling dir. Jemma Cotter
Rouben Mamoulian Award for best director: Rory Pearson (Mates)
AFTRS Craft Award for best practitioner: Josh Peters, music and sound designer (Faceless).
Rising Talent Award for screenwriting: Rory Pearson, Marcus Aldred-Traynor (Mates)
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