‘Un Simple Accident’ Wins Palme d’Or at the 78th Cannes Film Festival
The 78th Cannes Film Festival ended on Saturday night, awarding the festival’s top prize, the Palm d’Or to Iranian Director Jafar Panahi’s Un Simple Accident. Panahi was imprisoned several times in his home country for so-called propaganda (a hunger strike set him free). He is a vocal critic of the Iranian regime, and this latest honor at Cannes secures his place as a noteworthy filmmaker to watch whose voice matters – in art, and otherwise. The director’s other films include The White Balloon and Offside, and his latest is a mark of Panahi’s true artistry in the world of filmmaking. And there’s no better place to make a big splash for a filmmaker than at Cannes.
Un Simple Accident (English title: It Was Just an Accident) is one of several films that received major accolades at the closing ceremony for the festival on Saturday night. The Grand Prix went to Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value. The Joint Jury Prize was awarded to Oliver Laxe’s techno-desert film, Sirat, about a father going through a desert trying to find his daughter who went missing. It was also awarded to Sound of Falling, a German film about multiple generations of women living on the same German farm. Despite early hype, Sound of Falling failed to nab bigger prizes. Best performance by an actress was awarded to La Petite Derniere actress Nadia Melliti, who wowed audiences in the quiet but moving coming-out story set in Paris.
Hollywood heavyweights Robert De Niro and Denzel Washington received honorary Palm d’Or awards at Cannes this year for their contributions to cinema. De Niro’s was a planned event, and Washington seemed genuinely shocked and moved as he received his award while at the festival for his fifth collaboration with director Spike Lee, Highest 2 Lowest. (Lee is no stranger to Cannes – he was President of the Festival Jury in 2021 – and actor Jeffrey Wright called Lee at the Highest 2 Lowest press conference “the guardian of Black cinema.” Lee’s voice is always a dynamic and engaging one, and he’s a welcome presence at Cannes.)
Overcome with emotion, Washington received the honor looking humbled and honored. It was the actor’s very first time appearing at Cannes Film Festival. He couldn’t stay long in Cannes because he had to return to New York for his current run of Othello alongside Jake Gyllenhaal.
A-listers aside, another talk of the film festival were tariffs on films, which remain to be seen as to whether they are a credible threat and worry to filmmaking. To impose a 100% tariff on films made outside the U.S., as the current U.S. president has said he would do, would be devastating to the industry and have negative impacts on American filmmakers.
Honoree De Niro gave a fiery speech against Trump’s proposed film tariffs, and Nouvelle Vague director Richard Linklater said the tariffs aren’t going to happen. Calling out Trump’s unreliability, Linklater said at Cannes, “That guy changes his mind like 50 times in one day.” Eddington star Pedro Pascal also spoke out about Trump during Eddington’s press conference, urging others not be fearful of him, or anyone else.
Notable blockbusters from the U.S. premiered at Cannes this year, and were not filmed in the U.S. Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning was filmed all over, including in England, at the Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent for a breath-holding underwater sequence in which star Tom Cruise thrills audiences. And the star-studded The Phoenician Scheme from director Wes Anderson was filmed in Babelsberg Studio in Germany.
Cannes is a globally inclusive festival that’s built on the premise that there’s more power and greater art in the industry when countries work together and appreciate each other’s work. There’s no denying that the international element of Cannes is what makes it so special, rich in culture, and glamorous – here’s to another successful Cannes that proves we’re stronger when we support and celebrate each other.
Lead photo credit : Un Simple Accident. Photo courtesy of the Cannes Press Office
More in Cannes film festival
Related Articles
