Neon Takes North America on Jafar Panahi’s ‘It Was Just an Accident’

Neon has taken North American rights on revered Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi’s Cannes competition title “It Was Just an Accident,” which marks Panahi’s first film since being released from prison in Iran.

The film, starring Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, and Vahid Mobasser, was greeted with a long standing ovation and is a Cannes standout title.

“It Was Just an Accident” centers around an outpouring of strong feelings by a group of former prisoners toward a torturous guard.

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“When you spend eight hours a day blindfolded, seated in front of a wall, being interrogated by someone standing behind your back every day, you can’t stop wondering what kind of conversation you can have with this man,” Panahi told Variety in one of his first interviews following his 14-year ban on making movies, speaking to the press and traveling.

The film is produced by Jafar Panahi and Philippe Martin and co-produced by Sandrine Dumas and Christel Henon, with David Thion and Lilina Eche serving as associate producers. The film is a Les Films Pelléas and Jafar Panahi Production from Iran/France and Luxembourg.  MK2 Films is representing international sales rights. 

The deal was negotiated by Neon’s Sarah Colvin and Jeff Deutchman with MK2 Films’ Fionnuala Jamison on behalf of the filmmakers.

“It Was Just An Accident” marks the second collaboration between Neon and Jafar Panahi, following “The Year of the Everlasting Storm” which played in Cannes Special Screenings in 2021.

Panahi is is considered one of his country’s greatest living film masters.

In 2010, the auteur — known globally for prizewinning works such as “The Circle,” “Offside,” “This is Not a Film,” “Taxi” and most recently “No Bears” — was banned from making movies, speaking to the press and traveling, though he surreptitiously kept making them anyway. The ban was lifted in April 2023, and now Iranian authorities allowed him to travel to Cannes to launch “It Was Just an Accident.”