Cannes, Could 24, 2025 – The 78th Cannes Movie Pageant concluded with Iranian director Jafar Panahi profitable the celebrated Palme d’Or for his politically charged revenge thriller It Was Simply an Accident (Un Easy Accident). The movie, a defiant act of resistance shot clandestinely in Iran, marks Panahi’s triumphant return to Cannes after a 14-year journey ban and imprisonment. The closing ceremony, presided over by jury president Juliette Binoche, celebrated a various slate of winners, regardless of a five-hour regional energy outage that briefly disrupted the competition. Beneath is the entire listing of prizes awarded on the 2025 Cannes Movie Pageant, highlighting the competition’s dedication to daring, humanist cinema.

Palme d’Or: Jafar Panahi’s It Was Simply an Accident

Panahi’s It Was Simply an Accident earned a 10-minute standing ovation at its Could 20 premiere, lauded for its mix of absurdist humor, political fury, and empathy. The movie follows 5 former political prisoners who consider they’ve recognized their torturer by the creak of his prosthetic leg, sparking a tense debate over revenge or forgiveness. Shot with out state approval, it displays Panahi’s personal seven-month imprisonment in 2022 and his defiance of Iran’s authoritarian regime. Accepting the Palme d’Or, Panahi devoted the win to imprisoned Iranian artists, saying, “I can not be at liberty whereas they continue to be behind partitions.”

This victory completes Panahi’s uncommon “triple crown,” having beforehand gained the Golden Lion at Venice (2000, The Circle) and the Golden Bear at Berlin (2015, Taxi). Neon, which acquired North American rights, continued its six-year Palme d’Or streak. Critics, together with Selection, praised the movie as a “punchy thriller,” cementing Panahi’s standing as a world cinema icon.

Full Listing of 2025 Cannes Movie Pageant Winners

Important Competitors Awards

• Palme d’Or: It Was Simply an Accident, dir. Jafar Panahi (Iran) – A searing thriller questioning justice and freedom.
• Grand Prix: Sentimental Worth, dir. Joachim Trier (Norway) – A layered household drama a few filmmaker casting his estranged daughter, co-produced by Neon and Mk2.
• Greatest Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho, The Secret Agent (Brazil) – A 1977-set story of a mysterious man escaping his previous.
• Greatest Actress: Nadia Melliti, La Petite Dernière, dir. Hafsia Herzi – For her function as an Algerian immigrant’s daughter navigating religion and ambition.
• Greatest Actor: Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent, dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho – For his intense portrayal of a fugitive.
• Jury Prize (Tie):
  • Sirat, dir. Oliver Laxe
  • The Sound of Falling, dir. Mascha Schilinski – Acknowledged for his or her audacious visions.
• Greatest Screenplay: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Younger Moms – A social drama about teenage moms in a shelter.
• Particular Prize: Resurrection, dir. Bi Gan (China) – A chimeric anthology spanning a century of cinema.

Digicam d’Or (Greatest First Function)

• Digicam d’Or: The President’s Cake, dir. Hasan Hadi (Iraq) – The primary Iraqi movie to win at Cannes, offered by Alice Rohrwacher.
• Particular Point out: My Father’s Shadow, dir. Akinola Davies Jr.

Quick Movie Awards

• Quick Movie Palme d’Or: I’m Glad You’re Lifeless Now, dir. Tawfeek Barhom
• Particular Point out: Ali, dir. Adnan Al Rajeev
• Canal+ Quick Movie Award: Erogenesis, dir. Xandra Popescu

Documentary Awards

• Golden Eye Documentary Prize: Imago, dir. Déni Oumar Pitsaev
• Golden Eye Particular Jury Prize: The Six Billion Greenback Man, dir. Eugene Jarecki

Different Notable Awards

• Citizenship Prize: Un Easy Accident, dir. Jafar Panahi – Awarded for its humanist values, secularism, and universalism, chaired by Lucas Belvaux.
• Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: Guillermo Galoe and Victor Alonso-Berbel, Sleepless Metropolis
• Honorary Palme d’Or:
  • Denzel Washington – For his excellent profession, offered on Could 13.
  • Robert De Niro – Acknowledged throughout the opening ceremony.

Pageant Highlights and Context

The 2025 Cannes jury, that includes Halle Berry, Jeremy Sturdy, Payal Kapadia, Hong Sangsoo, Carlos Reygadas, Dieudo Hamadi, Alba Rohrwacher, and Leïla Slimani, leaned into politically resonant and humanist movies. Panahi’s win, offered by Binoche and Cate Blanchett, was a historic second, following his a long time of persecution in Iran, together with arrests in 2009 and 2022 and a 20-year filmmaking ban. His emotional speech on the premiere, dedicating the movie to exiled Iranian artists, resonated deeply, with X posts like @LeonardoGoi calling it a “historic, unimaginable Palme d’Or.”

Different standout moments included Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Worth incomes the Grand Prix, with Trier thanking Cannes for fostering empathy in cinema, and the Dardenne brothers’ Younger Moms persevering with their social-realist legacy. The competition’s lineup, that includes administrators like Ari Aster, Kelly Reichardt, and Julia Ducournau, was amongst its strongest, although no American movie gained a significant prize regardless of Neon’s Palme streak.

An influence outage on Could 24, attributable to suspected sabotage, briefly disrupted screenings, however the Palais switched to emergency energy, making certain the closing ceremony proceeded. John C. Reilly added levity, singing “La Vie en Rose” whereas presenting the screenplay award. Out-of-competition highlights included Mission: Inconceivable – The Remaining Reckoning, previewed on Could 21.

Significance of Panahi’s Win

Panahi’s It Was Simply an Accident is barely the second Iranian movie to win the Palme d’Or, following Abbas Kiarostami’s Style of Cherry in 1997 (co-won with The Eel). Its important acclaim, with Selection noting its Reservoir Canines-like ensemble and @peterhowellfilm calling it a “severe Palme contender,” underscores its impression. The Citizenship Prize additional honored its common themes of justice and free will, making it a defining second for Iranian cinema and dissident artwork.

The 2025 Cannes Movie Pageant reaffirmed its function as a platform for daring voices, with Panahi’s victory symbolizing cinema’s energy to withstand oppression and unite audiences in contemplation.