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It Was Just an Accident is one of the year's most discussed international films, a political thriller that represents the triumphant comeback of Iranian director Jafar Panahi. Panahi scripted and directed the movie, and it deals with issues of guilt, ethics, and repression in Iran's oppressive regime.
The film made its world premiere at the 78th Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2025, where it won the Palme d’Or, making it one of Panahi’s most celebrated works to date.
Following its historic Cannes win, the film was selected as France’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 98th Academy Awards.
It Was Just an Accident premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2025, and will release in the U.S. on October 15, 2025, featuring Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, and Ebrahim Azizi in lead roles.
When and where will It Was Just an Accident be released?
Following its festival run, It Was Just an Accident was released theatrically in France on October 1, 2025, by Memento Distribution under its French title of Un simple accident.
It will eventually be released in the United States on October 15, 2025, distributed by Neon, and will eventually be available for streaming on Mubi in nations such as India, the U.K., Germany, Turkey, and Latin America.
Prior to its general release, It Was Just an Accident carried on its festival run with a Canadian premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2025, and a screening at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea on September 18.
It also has an upcoming appearance at the Adelaide Film Festival in Australia on October 19, 2025, and in the Best of 2025 segment at the Rome Film Festival later that month.
The movie is a co-production of Iran, France, and Luxembourg and was produced by Les Films Pelléas, Bidibul Productions, and Pio & Co. Panahi defied his ban on filmmaking in Iran and shot the film in secret with a reduced cast and crew and finished post-production in France.
Interestingly, the actresses in the movie shoot without wearing the mandatory hijab, defying Iranian censorship law.
Panahi, who has been persecuted by the government for years because of his sharp criticism of Iran's political system, has been repeatedly imprisoned and prohibited from filmmaking since 2010. Early in 2023, after a seven-month prison term and hunger strike, he was released but still continued to work under the radar.
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What happens in It Was Just an Accident and who stars in it?
It Was Just an Accident (Image Via Neon)It Was Just an Accident is a page-turning moral thriller against the charged atmosphere of contemporary Iran. It starts with Eghbal, a night-driving man accompanied by his wife and daughter, running over a stray dog on a secluded road.
A minor accident turns into a terrifying sequence of events when Eghbal comes face to face with Vahid, an ex-political prisoner, after he stops at a local garage.
Vahid can identify the sound of Eghbal's prosthetic limb, the same as that of the intelligence officer who tortured him in jail and left him with permanent injuries. Believing Eghbal is the man who wronged him, Vahid kidnaps him and seeks vengeance.
As he brings a group of victimizing friends together, including a bookseller, a photographer, and a wedding party, the bonding within the group begins to break as they wonder if they've arrested the right man, and if revenge ever equals justice.
The ensemble cast consists of Vahid Mobasseri as Vahid, Mariam Afshari as Shiva, Ebrahim Azizi as Eghbal, Hadis Pakbaten as Golrokh, the groom as Majid Panahi, and Hamid played by Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr.
The cast also includes Delnaz Najafi, Afssaneh Najmabadi, and Georges Hashemzadeh. Every performance contributes to the film's claustrophobic and ethically ambiguous tone, building a portrait of shared trauma and uncertainty.
In the final moments of It Was Just an Accident, the audience is left to question not only the identity of the supposed torturer but also their own moral compass. Panahi’s latest work refuses to offer easy answers, a reflection of life in a society where truth itself has become a casualty.
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The movie is set to release on October 15, 2025.
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Edited by Sakshi Singh
English (US)