Spotlights feature conversations with high-profile film and television industry professionals who share helpful advice and insights on their career experiences and creative processes.

Join Sundance Collab for a rare and intimate conversation with one of the most vital voices in international cinema, director Jafar Panahi.

Panahi won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for It Was Just An Accident, his 11th feature film over the last 30 years. It’s been a painful road to this career-high triumph: Iranian authorities have banned Panahi from filmmaking and have arrested him on multiple occasions, most recently in 2022. Still, despite great personal risk, Panahi continues to create subversive works of art.

Shot in secret like all of his films since 2010, It Was Just An Accident marks a pivotal moment in his career. France selected it as its entry for the Best International Feature Film Oscar, and NEON will afford it the largest distribution ever for one of his films. No stranger to critical acclaim – Panahi is one of few directors to have won the top prize at Cannes, Venice, and Berlin – the filmmaker will see his work presented to new audiences worldwide in the fall of 2025. 

This hour-long event offers an extraordinary opportunity to hear directly from the director himself. Panahi will delve into the creative process behind It Was Just An Accident, sharing the secrets of how he shot the film under his ban. He also reflects on his celebrated body of work, including classics like The White Balloon, This Is Not A Film, and Offside, and discusses his ongoing role as a political activist. The session concludes with an audience Q&A.

It Was Just An Accident has screened and won awards at numerous festivals, including the Telluride Film Festival (Silver Medallion Tribute Award), the Toronto International Film Festival (Special Tribute Award), the Busan International Film Festival (Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award), and the New York Film Festival. Critics have called the film “A blistering, beautifully directed movie” (The New York Times), “Extraordinary” (Rolling Stone), “Breathtaking” (RogerEbert.com), and “A powerful moral thriller about the uncertainty of the truth and the choice between revenge and mercy” (The New Yorker).

Don’t miss this chance to learn from one of the great icons of world cinema.