Latest news with #ItWasJustanAccident
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Busan Film Festival to Honor Jafar Panahi as Asian Filmmaker of the Year
The Busan International Film Festival has selected Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi as its 2025 Asian Filmmaker of the Year, honoring the director's uncompromising contributions to Asian and world cinema. Panahi will receive the award during the opening ceremony of BIFF's 30th edition, which runs Sept. 17–26 in the South Korean port city. The accolade, one of the festival's highest honors, is presented annually to an individual or organization that has made a significant impact on the development of Asian cinema. Past recipients include an elite roster of artists and autuers, such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung, Ann Hui, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and the late composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, among others. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Dune' VFX House DNEG's Immersive Experiences Unit Names NBCU's Jeff Lehman Exec Producer (Exclusive) A Weakening U.S. Dollar Worries Film and TV Producers in Canada Ava Phillippe, Sam Morelos Cast in Tommy Dorfman's 'Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me' (Exclusive) A central figure in Iran's New Wave cinema, Panahi came to prominence with his debut The White Balloon (1995), winner of Cannes' Camera d'Or. He has since built a career defined by formal rigor and fearless political critique, continuing to create films despite a state-imposed ban and multiple arrests. Earlier this year, Panahi completed the rare European festival trifecta, taking home the Palme d'Or at Cannes for It Was Just an Accident (2025). The Hollywood Reporter's critic on the ground at the festival hailed the film as 'a shrewdly crafted vengeance film' that 'slowly but surely builds into a stark condemnation of abusive power and its long-lasting effects.'Panahi previously won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Taxi (2015) and the Golden Lion at Venice for The Circle (2000), making him the first Asian director to claim the top prize at all three major European festivals. Accepting the Palme d'Or at the Cannes ceremony, Panahi said: ''At a time when making films in my country becomes more difficult every day, this recognition reminds me that cinema can still connect us beyond borders, languages, and limitations. I not only accept this award in my own name, but also on behalf of all those who, in silence, in exile, or under pressure, continue to create.' Neon acquired North American theatrical rights to It Was Just an Accident at Cannes and plans to release the film on Oct. 15. The 30th Busan International Film Festival will be headquartered once again at the Busan Cinema Center, with screenings and special events taking place throughout the city. BIFF's Asian Project Market (APM), a vital incubator for emerging filmmakers across the region, runs concurrently with the festival. The event will unveil its competition selection in late August. Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 40 Greatest Needle Drops in Film History The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best Solve the daily Crossword
The Spinoff
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Ten must-see films at the 2025 NZ International Film Festival
From Cannes heavy-hitters to charming local comedies, Thomas Giblin makes his picks for this year's Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival. Rejoice, film fans of Aotearoa. Whānau Mārama, the New Zealand International Film Festival, has rolled around once again with its globe-trotting smorgasbord of cinematic curiosities and hotly-anticipated world premieres. The festival features over 100 films this year and is set to light up screens across the motu from July 31 to September 10. Opening in Tāmaki Makaurau with Palme d'Or winner It Was Just An Accident and in Ōtepoti with the iconoclastic, homegrown Life in One Chord, escape from the glacial breath of winter for a precious few hours with a film that reinvigorates your lust for so many appetising films on offer, how do you decipher the programme and decide what to watch? Luckily, I got a sneak peek, and have whittled the stacked lineup down to a handful of essential cinematic gems. From history-making Fijian and Nigerian feature film debuts to Cannes heavy-hitters and charming local comedies, here are my 10 must-see picks (in alphabetical order). Bati Bati, Andrew John Fakaua Ponton's directorial debut, is the first Fijian feature film to screen at the festival. It tells the heart-rending story of Sam (James Rabuatoka) and Rachel (Jedidiah Tuinasavusavu), two sweethearts who move from the lush highlands of Namosi to embark on a new chapter together in the bustling metropolis of Suva. His modest salary as a security guard isn't enough to pay the bills, so the fiery-eyed, iron-jawed family man decides to pursue his dream of becoming a professional boxer. A Rocky-esque underdog story, enlivened with a uniquely Fijian cast, crew and spirit, Bati is set to be a stunning KO. It Was Just an Accident Awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes, It Was Just an Accident is the legendary Iranian director's Jafar Panahi's first film since his release from prison in February 2023. Beginning innocuously with a minor bump in the road, Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi) and his pregnant partner (Mariam Afshari) pull over at Vahid's (Vahid Mobasseri) auto-repair garage, unwittingly setting in motion a series of escalating events. Summoning ' all the medium's expressive powers to deliver a fierce, unambiguous denunciation of authoritarian regimes the world over,' It Was Just an Accident might just be Panahi's most personal and powerful act of political resistance yet. My Father's Shadow Described as ' a masterwork ' and ' a new peak for African cinema ', the debut film from Akinola Davies Jr is the first-ever Nigerian film to premiere at Cannes. Davies Jr, who wrote the screenplay with his brother Wale, casts real-life brothers Godwin and Chibuike Marvellous Egbo as Akin and Remi, two young siblings who spend a day in Lagos with their estranged father (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) amid the 1993 Nigerian presidential election. Infused with magical realism and set against a tense political backdrop, My Father's Shadow is a tender tracing of fatherhood and loss that is bound to make you bawl. Notes from a Fish Returning festival alum Tom Levesque joins forces with local actor Romy Hooper to direct Notes from a Fish. Shot in 10 days on a micro-budget in the familiar inner suburbs of Tāmaki Makaurau, the black comedy shadows Leroy (Emilio Mancillo), an aspiring writer on the cusp of a career breakthrough. His creative mojo is connected to Kirby, an exotic fish he's looking after, so when the psychic piscine slips out of his grasp, Leroy teams up with Charlie (Romy Hooper), a chaotic former fisheries officer. Reminiscent of Barton Fink and Under The Silver Lake, make sure to catch this riotous exploration of the brittle intersection of creativity, inspiration and self-worth. Resurrection Helming just two feature films and aged only 36, the Chinese cineaste Bi Gan has already established himself as a master craftsman whose audacious, highly stylised oeuvre is a wonder to behold. Returning after seven years with Resurrection, which won the Prix Spécial at Cannes, Bi has delivered a ' transcendent vision ' that ' seeps so deep into the marrow that it lives in the space between breaths.' Divided into six collagic chapters, the hallucinogenic plot follows a monster who, in a world where humanity has lost the ability to dream, drifts through the history of China and cinema. Simply put: ' this kind of unhinged ambition is what cinema does better than anything else.' Sirât Taking its name from the Islamic bridge that separates heaven from hell, French born Spanish filmmaker Oliver Laxe's Sirât is ' a truly staggering and major film ' that ' has to be seen to be believed.' Set in the deserts of Morocco, a Mad-Max-like apocalyptic wasteland occupied by ravers and military convoys, stricken father Luis (Sergi López) is searching for his daughter. Hearing whispers of a future party where she could be, he journeys deeper into the desert, descending into a philosophical and existential abyss. Befittingly and beautifully rendered on grainy 16mm and soundtracked by ear-splitting bass, Sirât is one hell of a trip. Two Prosecutors Best known for his acclaimed documentaries examining Soviet and post-Soviet life, the outspoken Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa returns to fiction with Two Prosecutors, an adaptation of the long-unpublished eponymous novel by physicist and Gulag survivor Georgy Demidov. Set during the stifling terror of Stalin's Great Purge, the ' disturbing parable of the insidious micro-processes of tyranny,' follows Kornyev (Aleksandr Kuznetsov), an idealistic law school graduate seeking justice for a falsely accused detainee of the repressive NKVD. It's been said that Loznitsa ' is reflecting on the past here, but for anyone who cares to look, he's holding a mirror up to the present.' Urchin Recently cast as John Lennon in Sam Mendes's biopic treatment of The Beatles, Harris Dickinson has quickly become one of Hollywood's most in-demand actors. With the London-set Urchin, Dickinson's directorial debut, ' the burgeoning movie star tries his hand at a new skill, and proves to be a rare natural.' Shot in verité style, the character study traces the life of Michael (Frank Dillane), an unhoused person struggling to break free from a cycle of substance abuse-fuelled self-destruction but, as the title suggests, is hiding something soft inside his spiky exterior. For this ' revelatory ' performance, Dillane was awarded the best actor prize by the Un Certain Regard jury at Cannes. The Wolves Always Come at Night Australian filmmaker Gabriel Brady's The Wolves Always Come at Night is an inventive hybrid work of docufiction following a nomadic couple, Davaa and Zaya, their four children, and the flock of animals they care for. Living on the sprawling steppes of the Gobi desert, the family are forced to abandon their livelihood after a devastating dust storm and leave for Ulaanbaatar. Working hand-in-hand with Davaa and Zaya, who are credited as co-writers, this somber meditation on a fast disappearing way of life ' lays bare the emotional ruptures of climate change and urban migration '. Workmates Previously making local hits Fantail and Baby, Done together, Workmates marks the third feature film from married director, actor and writer duo Curtis Vowell and Sophie Henderson. Born out of a community's struggle to make art in a Covid-19 world and drawn from real-life experiences, Lucy (Sophie Henderson) and Tom (Matt Whelan) are best friends running the underfunded and structurally unsound Crystal Ballroom. When an accident threatens to shut down the theatre for good, Lucy finds out just how far she'll go for the theatre and for Tom, who she might just love. The ' superb new romantic dramedy ', shot mostly on location at the Basement Theatre, is a coming-of-age film for the late bloomers among us.
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mubi Takes Park Chan-Wook's ‘No Other Choice' For Multiple Territories, Including U.K., Australia
Mubi has acquired rights to Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice for a good chunk of the world, including Latin America, the UK, Ireland, Benelux, Spain, Turkey, India, Australia/New Zealand, and South East Asia. Cinéart will handle the theatrical release in Benelux in partnership with Mubi. The acquisition follows Neon's announcement yesterday that it had secured North American rights to the film. Mubi and Neon have been sympatico on several arthouse titles this year. In Cannes, Mubi nabbed multiple international rights on Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or winner It Was Just an Accident, Kleber Mendonça Filho's The Secret Agent, and Oliver Laxe's Sirat, all of which Neon has for domestic release. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Nawi' Star Michelle Lemuya Ikeny Thought She Was Auditioning for a School Play But Ended up in Kenya's Oscar Submission About Child Marriage K-Pop Girl Group Aespa Is Exactly Where They Want to Be Lorde Performs Surprise Glastonbury Set on Day of Album Release: "I'm Back and Completely Free" No Other Choice, currently in post-production, is based on Donald E. Westlake's novel The Ax. The cast is led by Korean stars Lee Byung-hun (Squid Game) and Son Ye-jin (A Moment to Remember), and features Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won, and Yoo Yeon-seok. The story centers on Man-su (Lee), a middle-aged man who, after being laid off from his paper company job of 25 years, takes drastic steps in pursuit of employment by systematically killing the other candidates for the job. Park adapted the novel for the screen together with Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar and Jahye Lee. No Other Choice is produced by Park and Back Jisun for Moho Film, along with Michèle Ray Gavras and Alexandre Gavras for KG Productions. Miky Lee of CJ Group serves as executive producer. CJ ENM, which financed the project, negotiated the deal with Mubi. This marks the second collaboration between Mubi and Park, following their release of Park's Decision to Leave (2022) in multiple territories, including the U.S. That film became Park's highest-grossing North American release, earning around $2.2 million, surpassing Stoker and The Handmaiden. Park is represented by WME, Industry Entertainment, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller, Gellman, Meigs & Fox. Lee is repped by UTA, BH Entertainment, and McKuin Frankel Whitehead. Son is repped by MSTeam Entertainment. Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Neon Sets Palme d'Or Winner ‘It Was Just an Accident' for October Release
This is no accident … you'll soon be able to see 2025 Palme d'Or winner 'It Was Just an Accident' in theaters on Oct. 15. Neon picked up Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi's latest movie — 'یک تصادف ساده,' — out of the Cannes Film Festival last month, marking their sixth consecutive acquisition of the French event's top film. 'Inspired by Panahi's second Iranian incarceration, 'It Was Just an Accident' follows what begins as a minor accident as it sets in motion a series of escalating consequences,' according to Neon's Wednesday press release. Panahi spent almost 20 years in prison or under house arrest in Iran for making films that the country deemed to be anti-government propaganda. After winning the Caméra d'Or in 1995 for 'The White Balloon,' the director was able to attend Cannes this year despite a 20-year ban on making movies in 2010 and an additional prison sentence in 2022. In his positive review of the film, Steve Pond wrote that 'the bracing thing about 'It Was Just an Accident' is that it has married Panahi's wit and humanism with real anger; if many of his previous films lulled you into realizing his points about oppression and injustice, this one is downright confrontational, from the moment its action begins with a man driving away from a city in the dead of night and accidentally hitting and killing a dog.' Writer/director Panahi produced the film alongside Philippe Martin, with Sandrine Dumas and Christel Henon as co-producers and David Thion and Lilina Eche as associate producers. The film was a Les Films Pelléas and Jafar Panahi production from Iran/France and Luxembourg, with mk2 Films representing international rights. Neon previously worked with Panahi on 'The Year of the Everlasting Storm,' which played as a Cannes Special Screening in 2021. The independent film production and distribution company famously also brought recent Palme d'Or winners 'Anora,' 'Anatomy of a Fall,' 'Triangle of Sadness,' 'Titane' and 'Parasite' to American audiences. 'It Was Just an Accident' arrives in theaters on Oct. 15. The post Neon Sets Palme d'Or Winner 'It Was Just an Accident' for October Release appeared first on TheWrap.
Time Out
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Sydney Film Festival breaks records as defiant Iranian director Jafar Panahi takes top prize
Following 12 days of packed cinemas, more than 150 sold-out sessions and record-breaking box office revenue, the 72nd Sydney Film Festival wrapped overnight with a moving awards ceremony at the State Theatre. The prestigious Sydney Film Prize this year went to acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi for his reimagined thriller, It Was Just an Accident. The announcement was made ahead of the Australian Premiere screening of Michael Angelo Covino's comedy Splitsville, capping off the highest selling festival in Sydney Film Festival's history. The Sydney Film Prize is a $60,000 cash prize for an 'audacious, cutting-edge and courageous' film, selected by a prestigious international jury headed by acclaimed Australian director, writer and producer Justin Kurzel. In a rare and significant appearance, Panahi was in Sydney to accept the award in person. Panahi was announced at SFF's opening night, fresh from winning the Palme d'Or, the major prize at the Cannes Film Festival. One of the most celebrated figures in contemporary world cinema, Panahi has spent the past three decades creating boundary-pushing films about the lived realities of people in Iran, made in defiance of restrictions and censorship by the Iranian government. As well as screening It Was Just an Accident in competition, the 72nd Sydney Film Festival also featured a retrospective of all 10 of Panahi's feature films. Since he has been in Sydney, Panahi has stepped back from attending screenings to stay in touch with family and friends during the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict. On awarding the Sydney Film Prize, the Jury said in a joint statement: 'In these times of great conflict and uncertainty it is more important than ever that filmmakers are given the freedom to express what they see around them. The films we watched led with empathy, compassion and kindness. The directors trusted that their stories would make us feel first, connect to a personal point of view, they were political but human first.' 'The winner of the Sydney Film Festival for 2025 embodied all these qualities, a courageous film with a deep soul and a powerful sense of forgiveness. It has outstanding performances and an understated authority which is brimming with truth.' Other SFF winners this year include Australian filmmaker Shalom Almond, who was awarded the $20,000 Documentary Australia Award cash prize for Songs Inside, a moving portrait of women prisoners who find healing through a unique music program. The 2025 recipient of the $40,000 Sustainable Future Award, the largest environmental film prize in the world, is Australian filmmaker Jordan Giusti for Floodland, a deeply resonant portrait of a flood-affected community in Lismore, Australia's most disaster-prone postcode. The recipient of the largest cash prize for First Nations filmmaking, the $35,000 First Nations Award proudly supported by Truant Pictures, is Canadian filmmaker Lisa Jackson for Wilfred Buck, which explores the life and teachings of charismatic Cree educator and 'star man' Wilfred Buck. Five short film prizes were awarded for The Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films. The $7,000 Dendy Live Action Short Award was awarded to Faceless, directed by Fraser Pemberton and William Jaka; the $7,000 Yoram Gross Animation Award was awarded to The Fling, directed by Jemma Cotter; and the $7,000 Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director was presented to Rory Pearson, director of Mates. The AFTRS Craft Award for Best Practitioner (a $7,000 cash prize) went to Josh Peters, music and sound designer of Faceless. The Event Cinemas Rising Talent Award for Screenwriting (another cash prize of $7,000) was awarded to Rory Pearson and Marcus Aldred-Traynor, the co-writers of Mates. The $10,000 Sydney-UNESCO City of Film Award, bestowed by Screen NSW to a trail-blazing NSW-based screen practitioner, went to the Big Bang Sound Design team Wayne Pashley and Libby Villa. Sydney Film Festival CEO Frances Wallace said: 'This year has been extraordinary. The 2025 Sydney Film Festival is the highest-selling festival in the festival's history, welcoming over 150,000 attendees – an 11 per cent increase on last year. Across 12 days, we screened 242 films, hosted 448 screenings and events, and saw over 150 sessions sell out. We're so grateful to the audiences, filmmakers, patrons, partners and supporters who made this year such a success.'
