Iran: acclaimed by his followers, Jafar Panahi returned to Tehran after his golden palm

The Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was well received by his followers without worrying this Monday, May 26 at Tehran airport, after winning the golden palm of the 78th Cannes Festival, according to videos published on social networks.

After years during which he was prevented from leaving Iran, made with clandestine films and spent several stadies in prison, the filmmaker won on Saturday one of the most prestigious awards for world cinema for his last film. A simple accident.

“Woman. Life. Freedom!”

While some of his supporters feared difficulties when he returned to Iran, arrived without incident, at dawn on Monday, at Tehran International Airport, which bears the name of the founder of the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

“He arrived early this morning in Tehran” and “He returned home,” said French film producer Philippe Martin, who did not talk directly to the director but was able to join him.

“He even learned that he had obtained a visa to go to a festival in Sydney (in Australia) in ten days,” said the source.

Jafar Panahi was acclaimed when the rolling ladder was descended to the luggage recovery carpets, according to videos published by Dadban’s human rights observer on social networks.

The cry “Woman. Life. Freedom!”, It was heard in a video that slogan was heard of the protest movement in 2022-2023 towards the Iranian authorities.

When he left the airport, he was praised by a dozen supporters, according to videos published on Instagram by Iranian director Mehdi Naderi and transmitted by Iran International Channel, a media abroad. “New blood in the veins of independent Iranian cinema,” Mehdi Naderi praised.

This welcome contrasts with the cold reaction of the Iranian state media and the leaders of power with this first Iranian gold palm from The taste of cherry of the late Abbas Kiarostami in 1997.

“In a gesture of resistance against the oppression of the Iranian regime, Jafar Panahi takes a golden palm that revives the hope of all the combatants of freedom, worldwide,” wrote the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Noël Barrot in X.

Tehran, in response, summoned the French officer in Tehran, denouncing “insulting words and (…) unfounded accusations,” according to the official Iranian Iranian agency.

“I am not an art expert, but we believe that artistic events and art in general should not be exploited (or used abusive) to pursue political objectives,” said Iranian diplomacy spokesman on Monday, Esmaïl Baghaï.

This call from the project manager “was motivated by low -level comments made by the French parties who took advantage of an international event to pronounce false and provocative statements against Iran”.

Panahi’s film tells the story of five Iranians who face a man who believe he tortured them in prison, a story inspired by the filmmaker’s own period in detention.

After winning the award, Jafar Panahi launched an appeal to freedom in Iran. “Let’s put aside all problems, all differences. What matters most at this time is our country and the freedom of our country.”