Filmmaker Panahi cheered on return to Iran after Cannes triumph
Iranian director and screenwriter and producer Jafar Panahi poses with the trophy during a photocall after winning the Palme d'Or for the film "Un simple accident" (A Simple Accident) during the closing ceremony at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. -- AFP
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Pahani was given a hero's welcome on his return to Tehran Monday by supporters after winning the top prize at the Cannes film festival, footage posted on social media showed. After being banned from leaving Iran for years, forced to make films underground and enduring spells in prison, Panahi attended the French festival in person and sensationally walked away with the Palme d'Or for his latest movie 'It Was Just an Accident'.
With some fans concerned that Panahi could face trouble on his return to Iran, he arrived without incident at Tehran's main international airport, named after the founder of the 1979 Islamic revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in the early hours of Monday. He was immediately cheered by supporters waiting in the public area as he descended the escalator from passport control to baggage collection, footage posted by the Dadban legal monitor on social media showed.
One person could be heard shouting 'Woman. Life. Freedom!', the slogan of the 2022-2023 protest movement that shook the Iranian authorities. On exiting, he was greeted by around a dozen supporters who had stayed up to welcome him, according to footage posted on Instagram by the Iranian director Mehdi Naderi and broadcast by the Iran International Channel which is based outside Iran. Smiling broadly and waving, he was cheered, applauded, hugged and presented with flowers. 'Fresh blood in the veins of Iranian independent cinema,' wrote Naderi.
'Gesture of resistance'
The warm welcome from fans at the airport contrasted with the lukewarm reaction from Iranian state media and officials to the first time an Iranian filmmaker was awarded the Palme d'Or since 'The Taste of Cherry' by the late Abbas Kiarostami in 1997. While evoked by state media such as the IRNA news agency, Panahi's triumph has received only thin coverage inside Iran and has also sparked a diplomatic row with France.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called his victory 'a gesture of resistance against the Iranian regime's oppression' in a post on X, prompting Tehran to summon France's charge d'affaires to protest the 'insulting' comments. 'I am not an art expert, but we believe that artistic events and art in general should not be exploited to pursue political objectives,' said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.
The film is politically-charged, showing five Iranians confronting a man they believe tortured them in prison, a story inspired by Panahi's own time in detention. After winning the prize, Panahi also made a resounding call for freedom in Iran. 'Let's set aside all problems, all differences. What matters most right now is our country and the freedom of our country.' — AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
8 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Lewis Capaldi makes triumphant Glastonbury return with surprise set
Scottish singer Lewis Capital performs on the pyramid stage during the third day of the Glastonbury festival at Worthy Farm in the village of Pilton in Somerset, south-west England, on June 27, 2025.--AFP Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi made an emotional return to Glastonbury Festival on Friday, two years after stopping a performance on the same stage as he struggled to overcome his Tourette symptoms. Tens of thousands of fans flocked to the main Pyramid Stage in southwest England for the secret set, chanting 'oh Lewis Capaldi' before the singer launched into hit song 'Before You Go'. 'Glastonbury, it is so good to be back. I'm not gonna say much up here today, because if I do, I think I would probably start crying,' he told the crowd. 'I just wanted to come and kind of finish work and finish the first time around on this stage,' he added. The 28-year-old in 2023 announced that he was taking a break from performing, after struggling to finish his Glastonbury set days earlier. That year's Glastonbury was meant to be his comeback after he cancelled three weeks of shows due to the mental and physical effects of touring. He had previously spoken of his difficulties coping with fame and suffering panic attacks, while he has also been diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome, a neurological condition that causes involuntary sounds or movements called tics. Stress and anxiety are common triggers. The award-winning singer-songwriter is best known for his 2019 hit 'Someone You Loved', which was a number one in the UK and United States and the song which he couldn't finish in 2023. Capaldi choked up and had tears in his ears as he began the song this time around. 'It was sentimental. We were here last time when he had the complications so it was nice seeing him make that come back,' said entrepreneur Charlie Boi 34. 'I cried a lot,' admitted 33-year-old HR worker Rachel Butler. Controversy New Zealand singer Lorde helped kick off this year's festival with a packed out secret appearance. Best known for hits including 'Royals', 'Green Light' and 'Solar Power', the star's performance on the Woodsies stage coincided with the release of her much-anticipated fourth studio album which came out at midnight. Organizers shut off Woodsies field just before Lorde came on stage due to overcrowding as news of her presence spread around the festival's sprawling Worthy Farm site. Headline acts this year include Neil Young and Olivia Rodrigo, with other highlights including Charli XCX and Rod Stewart. The festival opened its gates Wednesday amid controversy over the inclusion of Irish rap trio Kneecap on the bill. The group has made headlines with their outspoken pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel stance. One of their members, Mo Chara, has been charged with a 'terror' offence for allegedly supporting Hezbollah by waving a flag at a concert. Asked whether he regretted that, and other comments caught on camera, Chara told the Guardian in an interview published Friday: 'Why should I regret it? It was a joke – we're playing characters.'—AFP
Kuwait Times
8 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
‘Mission: Impossible' composer Lalo Schifrin dies aged 93
Famed composer Lalo Schifrin, who created themes for a host of hit Hollywood films and television shows -- including the instantly recognizable 'Mission: Impossible' score -- died Thursday aged 93, US media reported. Born in Argentina, Schifrin blended the influences of his classical and symphonic training with jazz and modern sounds in his diverse and vast oeuvre, which includes the scores for around 100 films, some of them the best-known of their generation. His death was confirmed by his son, Ryan Schifrin, to several entertainment trade publications. Schifrin's work for film includes 'The Cincinnati Kid (1965) and 'Bullitt' (1968), both with Steve McQueen, Paul Newman's 'Cool Hand Luke' (1968), and Clint Eastwood's 'Dirty Harry' (1971). He also created the score to the 1960s 'Mission: Impossible' television series, which inspired the theme of the massive film franchise starring Tom Cruise. A pipe-smoker in his younger years and bespectacled with a mane of silver hair later, he was also a highly respected international orchestra conductor and jazz pianist. Boris Claudio Schifrin was born in Buenos Aires on June 21, 1932 into a musical family, his father Luis Schifrin being the concert master of the city's Philharmonic Orchestra for 25 years. He learned piano at a young age, developing an extensive knowledge of classical music. His introduction in his teens to jazz and the American sound -- through its greats such as Charlie Parker, George Gershwin and Louis Armstrong -- was like a conversion, he would say later, and set his life on a new course. After training in Paris, Schifrin returned to Buenos Aires and set up his own big band, with a performance notably impressing jazz legend trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. 'So after we finished, Dizzy came to me and said, did you write all these charts? And I said, yes. Would you like to come to United States? I thought he was joking. He wasn't,' Schifrin recounted to NPR in 2007. 'I wouldn't be here had it not been for that moment,' he told the US radio. Schifrin moved to the United States in 1958 and became a US citizen over a decade later. In Hollywood, television producer Bruce Geller asked him to create scores for his television series 'Mission: Impossible' (1966) and 'Mannix' (1969). Geller's brief was for 'a theme that's exciting, promising, but not too heavy' and anticipates the action to follow, Schifrin told NPR in 2015. Geller said that when 'people go to the kitchen and get a Coca-Cola, I want them to hear the theme and say, Oh, this is 'Mission: Impossible',' he recounted. The score he delivered earned Schifrin two Grammy music awards in 1967, adding to two for the albums 'The Cat' (1964) and 'Jazz Suite On The Mass Texts' (1965). Shifrin received several Academy Award nominations for his film work including for 'Cool Hand Luke.' In 2018, he received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement, presented by Eastwood.—AFP
Kuwait Times
21 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Reluctant fame of Gaza photog Motaz Azaiza
PHILADELPHIA: At a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hundreds of people gathered recently for a weeknight charity fundraiser hosted by a celebrity guest. The venue was not announced in advance due to security concerns, and attendance cost at least $60 a pop — with some spending $1,000 to get a photo with the host. Yet, the event was not a gala hosted by a movie star or famed politician, but by a photojournalist: Gaza native Motaz Azaiza, whose images of the Zionist assault in Gaza launched him to international recognition. Wearing a black T-shirt, jeans, sneakers and gold-framed glasses, the 26-year-old boasts nearly 17 million followers on Instagram for his images from the war in Gaza. 'I wish you would have known me without the genocide,' Azaiza told the crowd, his voice faltering. Before the war, Azaiza was a relative unknown, posting photos from his daily life in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip to his roughly 25,000 Instagram followers at the time. But as soon as the first strikes from the Zionist entity hit Gaza, he became a war photographer by virtue of circumstance, and his wartime posts soon went viral. 'As a photojournalist, I can't watch this like anyone else, I'm from there, this is my home,' Azaiza said. After surviving 108 days of Israeli bombardment, Azaiza managed to escape Gaza via Egypt, and he has since become an ambassador of sorts for the Palestinian territory, sharing the story of his people as the conflict rages on. 'Every time you feel like you regret leaving, but then you lose a friend, you lose a family, you say, OK, I saved my life,' Azaiza said. Before the war, Azaiza had been hired to manage the online content for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the humanitarian agency accused by Israel of providing cover for Hamas militants. This month, he is touring the United States to raise money for UNRWA USA, a nonprofit which collects funding for the agency. 'I can't handle this much of a real big responsibility,' Azaiza told AFP from the fundraiser in Philadelphia. 'This is not me... I'm waiting to the genocide to stop. I want to go back to Gaza, continue my work capturing pictures,' he added. At one point he embedded himself in the crowd, posing for a selfie before shaking hands with donors. At the fundraiser, a UNRWA USA official solicited donations. 'Is there someone who wants to give $20,000? I would like to have $20,000. Nobody? Is there someone who want to give $10,000? I would like to have $10,000,' the official calls out. Once the call lowered to $5,000, five hands raised, and even more went up when asked for donations of $2,000 and $1,000. One of the donors, Nabeel Sarwar, told AFP Azaiza's photographs 'humanize' the people in Gaza. 'When you see a picture, when you see a child, you relate to that child, you relate to the body language, you relate to the dust on their face, the hunger, the sadness on their face,' Sarwar said. 'I think it's those pictures that really brought home towards the real tragedy of what's going on in Gaza.' Veronica Murgulescu, a 25-year-old medical student from Philadelphia, concurred. 'I think that people like Motaz and other Gazan journalists have really stuck a chord with us, because you can sense the authenticity,' she said. 'The mainstream media that we have here in the US, at least, and in the West, it lacks authenticity,' she added. Sahar Khamis, a communications professor at the University of Maryland who specializes in Arab and Muslim media in the Middle East, said Gazan journalists like Azaiza who have become social media influencers 'reshape public opinion, especially among youth, not just in the Arab world, not just in the Middle East, but globally and internationally, including in the United States.' 'The visuals are very, very important and very powerful and very we know in journalism, that one picture equals a thousand words. 'And in the case of war and conflict, it can equal a million words, because you can tell through these short videos and short images and photos a lot of things that you cannot say in a whole essay.' – AFP
