Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi has won the top award at the 72nd Sydney Film Festival with It Was Just An Accident, three weeks after scooping the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
The award was presented on Sunday (June 15) at Sydney’s State Theatre and includes a cash prize of $39,000.
Scroll down for full list of winners
The competition jury, led by Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel, presented the award in unorthodox fashion as the jurors walked off the stage at the grand 2,000-seat theatre and into the audience to hand the trophy to Panahi – an acknowledgement of his distress at Israel...
The award was presented on Sunday (June 15) at Sydney’s State Theatre and includes a cash prize of $39,000.
Scroll down for full list of winners
The competition jury, led by Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel, presented the award in unorthodox fashion as the jurors walked off the stage at the grand 2,000-seat theatre and into the audience to hand the trophy to Panahi – an acknowledgement of his distress at Israel...
- 6/16/2025
- ScreenDaily
The 72nd Sydney Film Festival has concluded with Iranian director Jafar Panahi claiming the event’s top honor, taking home the Sydney Film Prize for “It Was Just An Accident.”
The film previously won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
The Sydney win nets Panahi Aud$60,000 for what the competition jury described as an “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous” film. The announcement was made ahead of the Australian premiere screening of Cannes hit “Splitsville.”
Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel served as jury president for the main competition, joining New Zealand actor-director Rachel House, producer and Marrakech Film Festival director Melita Toscan du Plantier, Australian actor-writer Thomas Weatherall, and Hong Kong-based film distributor Winnie Tsang.
The jury praised the winner as “a courageous film with a deep soul and a powerful sense of forgiveness” that “embodied outstanding performances and an understated authority which is brimming with truth.”
They noted the strength of debut features in competition,...
The film previously won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
The Sydney win nets Panahi Aud$60,000 for what the competition jury described as an “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous” film. The announcement was made ahead of the Australian premiere screening of Cannes hit “Splitsville.”
Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel served as jury president for the main competition, joining New Zealand actor-director Rachel House, producer and Marrakech Film Festival director Melita Toscan du Plantier, Australian actor-writer Thomas Weatherall, and Hong Kong-based film distributor Winnie Tsang.
The jury praised the winner as “a courageous film with a deep soul and a powerful sense of forgiveness” that “embodied outstanding performances and an understated authority which is brimming with truth.”
They noted the strength of debut features in competition,...
- 6/16/2025
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
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