And the wins keep on coming for Neon. But also for Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, currently in exile from his home country of Iran for how he’s voiced opposition through his cinema. This includes his latest film and now Palme d’Or winner, “It Was Just an Accident,” a moral thriller that finds five dissidents debating whether or not to murder their former torturer.
In IndieWire’s review out of Cannes, David Ehrlich said of the film, “From the plot description alone, it’s obvious that ‘It Was Just an Accident’ finds Panahi working in a very different register than he had to while “banned” from making films — a period that saw his long-standing penchant for metafiction become considerably more pronounced, as he was forced to make himself the subject of iPhone/camcorder masterpieces like ‘This Is Not a Film.’ This one still had to be shot in secret in order to skirt government approval, but it takes great pleasure in replacing the self-reflexivity of Panahi’s illegal work with a slightly more formal sense of composition, even if it remains impossible to separate the final product from the personal experience that informed it.”
This year’s Palme was presented by Cate Blanchett and European Film Academy president Juliette Binoche, who also led the Main Competition jury. She was joined by Halle Berry, Dieudo Hamadi, Hong Sang-soo, Payal Kapadia, Carlos Reygadas, Alba Rohrwacher, Leïla Slimani, and Jeremy Strong.
Cannes 2025 was defined by a healthy competition between indie distributors Neon and Mubi, with the former winning out. The company has acquired the Palme d’Or winner six years running now and also took home Best Actor, Best Director, the Jury Prize, and the Grand Prix. Coming into the fest, they had already put their weight behind Julia Ducarneau’s body horror “Alpha” and Joachim Trier’s family drama “Sentimental Value,” but during the last week and change also picked up the well-received competition entries “Sirât,” “It Was Just an Accident,” and “The Secret Agent.” Meanwhile, “The Substance” distributor Mubi came in with queer romance “The History of Sound” and heist film “The Mastermind,” then subsequently bought two buzzy titles: Lynne Ramsay’s “Die My Love” and Mascha Schilinski’s generational drama “Sound of Falling.”
On Friday, Un Certain Regard awarded it prizes from a jury led by Molly Manning Walker and including Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Louise Courvoisier, Vanja Kaluđerčić, and Roberto Minervini. The Jury Prize was presented to Simón Mesa Soto for his satire, “A Poet,” while Harry Lighton took home Best Screenplay for his BDSM romance “Pillion.” Both films were IndieWire Critic’s Picks. Chilean filmmaker Diego Céspedes took home the top prize for his directorial debut “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingos.” The 1980s-set drama was an international co-production between Chile, France, Belgium, Spain, and Germany.
Keep reading to find out the 2025 Cannes Film Festival winners:
Palme d’Or: “It Was Just an Accident”
Grand Prix: “Sentimental Value”
Jury Prize: *TIE* “Sirât” & “Sound of Falling”
Best Actress: Nadia Melliti, “The Little Sister”
Best Actor: Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”
Best Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho, “The Secret Agent”
Best Screenplay: Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne, “Young Mothers”
Camera d’Or: Hasan Hadi, “The President’s Cake”
Camera d’Or Special Mention: Akinola Davies Jr., “My Father’s Shadow”
Special Award: Bi Gan, “Resurrection”
Short Film Palme d’Or: “I’m Glad You’re Dead Now,” Tawfeek Barhom
Short Film Special Mention: “Ali,” Adnan Al Rajeev
Golden Eye Documentary Prize: “Imago,” Déni Oumar Pitsaev
Golden Eye Documentary 10th Anniversary Prize: “The Six Billion Dollar Man”
Queer Palm: Hafsia Herzi, “La Petite Dernière”
