Iran summoned France’s envoy in Tehran over what it said were “insulting” comments by the French Foreign Minister following Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s win of the top prize at the Cannes film festival.
In a post on X French Foreign Minister called the awarding of the Cannes Palme d’Or to Panahi “a gesture of resistance against the Iranian regime’s oppression".
Panahi won for his political revenge drama It Was Just an Accident, a film inspired by his own detention that follows a group of former prisoners grappling with whether to take revenge on their former tormentor.
Several actresses also appear in the film without veils, in violation of Iran's strict dress code for women.
Iran summoned the French charge d’affairs "following the insulting remarks and unfounded allegations by the French minister”, the state news agency IRNA reported Sunday, adding that Iran condemns "the misuse by the French government" of the Cannes festival "to advance its political agenda against the Islamic Republic".
The state broadcaster had ignored Panahi's win, instead focusing on a state-aligned "Resistance" film festival that awards pro-Palestinian works or those about the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
The conservative Fars news agency called the jury’s choice political.
Panahi, who has been banned from filmmaking in Iran since 2010 and imprisoned twice, made a speech at Cannes championing freedom of expression.
He told reporters he was not afraid of returning to Iran, and on Sunday he posted a photo of himself with the film’s crew on Instagram saying: "Travellers return home".
(with AFP)
