Jafar Panahi was born in the Iranian city of Mianeh in 1960. He studied performing arts at the College of Cinema and Television in Tehran. After graduating, he made films for television and worked as an assistant to Abbas Kiarostami in the film Through the Olive Trees (1994). Following a conflict with the Iranian government that developed for several years over the content of his films, The Circle (2000) and Crimson Gold (2003) were banned by the Islamic government, and in 2010 the Iranian authorities arrested Panahi at home, along with his wife, his daughter and 15 of their guests. They were accused of propaganda against the government. The government sentenced the director to six years in prison, banning him from making films for 20 years and forbidding him from leaving the country and giving any interviews to Iranian or foreign-language media. In 2012, Jafar Panahi was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament.Jafar Panahi is one of the most significant filmmakers of the Iranian cinema’s “New Wave”. His films and talent have been recognized and appreciated by the international film community and film critics for decades. He has won festival awards such as the Golden Lion, the Golden Bear, the Silver Bear, the Golden Leopard and dozens of other prestigious international prizes, including the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2025. Special Guests 2025 Oliver Laxe Robin Campillo Lucrecia Martel Juliette Binoche Special Guests in Other Editions Francis Ford Coppola Ira Sachs Liv Tyler Alexander Payne James Ivory Ava DuVernay Leos Carax Kathleen Kennedy Jodie Foster James Ivory Luis Mandoki Jerry Schatzberg Maribel Verdú Laurent Cantet Frank Marshall Claire Denis Barry Jenkins Ciro Guerra en Rosalie Varda J. M. Coetzee Luc Dardenne Robert Redford Alfonso Cuarón Damien Chazelle Paul Weitz Patrice Leconte Julie Bertuccelli Carol Littleton John Bailey Olivier Assayas Lynne Ramsay Al Gore Michel Hazanavicius Bob Rafelson Fred Kelemen Aaron Eckhart Casey Affleck Giada Colagrande Audrey Tautou Isabelle Huppert Tim Roth Rodrigo García Peter Greenaway Pawel Pawlikowski Pierre Rissient Amos Gitai Juliette Binoche Edward James Olmos Robert Rodriguez John Sayles Alejandro Jodorowsky Danny Trejo Bruno Dumont Quentin Tarantino Pablo Larraín José María Prado Whit Stillman Dieter Kosslick Geraldine Chaplin Seifollah Samadian Gregory Nava Sally Potter Abbas Kiarostami Damián Alcázar Demián Bichir Elena Anaya Thierry Frémaux Marisa Paredes Michel Gondry Volker Schlöndorff Luis Valdez Béla Tarr Lucrecia Martel Javier Bardem Edgar Ramírez Fernando Trueba Doris Dörrie Serge Bromberg Terry Gilliam Julio Alemán Kelly Reichardt Jennifer Lawrence Steven Soderbergh Michael Nyman Nicolas Philibert Todd Haynes Stephen Frears Héctor Babenco Gael García Bernal Carlos Reygadas Alejandro González Iñárritu Cristian Mungiu Bertrand Tavernier Arthur Penn Jean-Claude Carrière Guillermo del Toro Mike Hodges Diego Luna Tommy Lee Jones Valeria Sarmiento Raúl Ruiz Gus Van Sant Manoel De Oliveira Fernando Vallejo Julia Ormond Salma Hayek Werner Herzog Barbet Schroeder Barbet Schroeder Guillermo del Toro Alfonso Cuarón Casey Affleck Barbet Schroeder Guillermo del Toro Alfonso Cuarón Casey Affleck Barbet Schroeder Guillermo del Toro Alfonso Cuarón Casey Affleck
Jafar Panahi was born in the Iranian city of Mianeh in 1960. He studied performing arts at the College of Cinema and Television in Tehran. After graduating, he made films for television and worked as an assistant to Abbas Kiarostami in the film Through the Olive Trees (1994). Following a conflict with the Iranian government that developed for several years over the content of his films, The Circle (2000) and Crimson Gold (2003) were banned by the Islamic government, and in 2010 the Iranian authorities arrested Panahi at home, along with his wife, his daughter and 15 of their guests. They were accused of propaganda against the government. The government sentenced the director to six years in prison, banning him from making films for 20 years and forbidding him from leaving the country and giving any interviews to Iranian or foreign-language media. In 2012, Jafar Panahi was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament.Jafar Panahi is one of the most significant filmmakers of the Iranian cinema’s “New Wave”. His films and talent have been recognized and appreciated by the international film community and film critics for decades. He has won festival awards such as the Golden Lion, the Golden Bear, the Silver Bear, the Golden Leopard and dozens of other prestigious international prizes, including the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2025.
