Government shutdown blocks Jafar Panahi from presenting his Palme d'Or winner at NYFF

Director Jafar Panahi won’t attend tonight's screening of It Was Just An Accident due to the government shutdown.

By Matt Schimkowitz | October 2, 2025 | 3:30pm

Image courtesy of Neon

Film News Jafar Panahi

Government shutdown blocks Jafar Panahi from presenting his Palme d'Or winner at NYFF

Iranian director Jafar Panahi won’t make the New York Film Festival premiere of his Palme d’Or-winning film, It Was Just An Accident, due to a delay in receiving his visa. The delays were caused by—you guessed it—the government shutdown, which is starting all kinds of new fires in the American dumpster. No stranger to governments screwing up his life, Panahi was set to appear at a screening of It Was Just An Accident today, October 2, and participate in a conversation with Martin Scorsese at the Festival tomorrow. Organizers are hoping the filmmaker will still arrive in the U.S. before the movie officially opens theatrically on October 15.

A renowned dissident filmmaker, Panahi has long been a target of the Iranian government, having been arrested numerous times for the crime of making movies. Most recently, in 2022, he was arrested in Tehran and sentenced to six years in jail for visiting a prison to inquire about two other detained directors who were arrested for supporting protests. Months later, while imprisoned, Panahi began a hunger strike, which lasted until his release two days later.