Iranian director Jafar Panahi's film "It Was Just an Accident" shines at Cannes
Cannes [France], May 25 (ANI): Iranian director Jafar Panahi accepted the Palme d'Or for "It Was Just an Accident," a film directly inspired by his time in prison at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. Panahi's film is filled with equal parts absurdist humour and rage, following five characters who believe they have identified the prosecutor who tortured them during their own detention, but because they were all blindfolded in jail, no one is confident their captor is the same man, reported .
The awards ceremony unfolded more or less as planned on a turbulent last day for the otherwise calm event, which was hit with a power blackout mid-morning -- a massive regional outage that disrupted screenings and caused general confusion among attendees. Fortunately, the festival had backup generators running, ensuring that the show would go on at the Palais, where jury president Juliette Binoche and eight other film artists took the stage to present their awards, reported .
Neon also co-produced the Grand Prix winner, Norwegian director Joachim Trier's layered family drama "Sentimental Value," about a difficult filmmaker attempting to reconcile with his estranged daughter by casting her in his most personal film to date -- an offer she can't help but interpret as the man's most egotistical gesture yet.
Accepting the award, Trier thanked Cannes for fostering a place "where we can identify with each other in contemplation, in empathy," adding, "I don't think art is just something you do for purpose or understanding. We don't know why we do it. It's something I watch my small children do. They sing and dance before they can speak. But it's another language, it could be a language of unification."
"Little Sister" star Nadia Melliti won the best actress prize. Best actor honours went to Wagner Moura for "The Secret Agent," in which he plays a father who disguises his identity in an attempt to evade assassination during Brazil's military dictatorship. Kleber Mendonca Filho won best director for the same film, as per the outlet. Alice Rohrwacher presented the Camera d'Or trophy for first feature to "The President's Cake" director Hasan Hadi, who accepted the first award ever presented to an Iraqi film in Cannes, reported .
