The revenge thriller It Was Just an Accident directed by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has won the Palme D’or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
In the film, what begins as a minor accident sets in motion a series of escalating consequences. A man is driving at night with his pregnant wife when he hits and kills a dog. The accident badly damages car and he pulls over to a nearby garage owned by Vahid played by Vahid Mobasseri, who notices that the man resembles the officer who tortured him in prison and ruined his life. Vahid stalks the man, who walks with a false leg, and kidnaps him. Vahid prepares to bury him alive but grows doubtful about the man’s identity and reaches out to a fellow prisoner for confirmation. They they attempt to verify who he actually is and what to do with him.
The Grand Prix went to Sentimental Value directed by Joachim Trier.
Other top prizes including Un Certain Regard went to The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo by Diego Céspedes, and The President’s Cake by Hasan Hadi took the Caméra D’or Prize.
2025 Cannes Film Festival Winners
Feature Films
Palme D’or
It Was Just an Accident (Un Simple Accident)
Jafar Panahi
Grand Prix
Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi)
Joachim Trier
Joint Jury Prize
Sirât
Oliver Laxe
Sound of Falling
Mascha Schilinski
Best Director
Kleber Mendonça Filho for The Secret Agent (O Agente Secreto)
Best Screenplay
Jean-pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne for Jeunes Mères
Best Performance by an Actress
Nadia Melliti in La Petite Dernière directed by Hafsia Herzi
Best Performance by an Actor
Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent (O Agente Secreto) directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho
Special Award
Ressurection
Bi Gan
Short Films
Palme D’or
I’m Glad You’re Dead Now
Tawfeek Barhom
Special Mention
Ali
Adnan Al Rajeev
Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard Prize
The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo (La Misteriosa Mirada Del Flamenco)
Diego Céspedes
1st Film
Jury Prize
A Poet (Un Poeta)
Simón Mesa Soto
Best Directing
Arab & Tarzan Nasser
For Once Upon a Time in Gaza
Best Actor
Frank Dillane
In Urchin Directed by Harris Dickinson
Best Actress
Cleo Diára, in
I Only Rest in the Storm (O Riso E a Faca) directed by Pedro Pinho
Best Screenplay
Pillion
Harry Lighton
1st Film
Caméra D’or
Caméra D’or Prize
The President’s Cake
Hasan Hadi
Directors’ Fortnight
Special Mention
My Father’s Shadow
Akinola Davies Jr
Un Certain Regard
First Prize
First Summer
Heo Gayoung
Kafa, South Korea
Second Prize
12 Moments Before the Flag-raising Ceremony
Qu Zhizheng
Beijing Film Academy, China
Joint Third Prize
Ginger Boy
Miki Tanaka
Enbu Seminar, Japan
Winter in March
Natalia Mirzoyan
Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia
Superior Technical Commission
The CST Award for Best Artist-Technician
Ruben Impens, director of photography, and Stéphane Thiébaut, mixer of Alpha, directed by Julia Ducournau
The CST Award for Best Young Female Film Technician
Éponine Momenceau, Director of photography of Connemara, directed by Alex Lutz