With its golden palm, Jafar Panahi joins a very closed circle of directors

Only Henri-Georges Clouzot, Michelangelo Antonioni, Robert Altman and Jean-Luc Godard did it before him …

It is a palm of gold that brings Jafar Panahi in the history of cinema.

With the victory of his film Cut-de-Poing A simple accident (which will be released next September in our rooms), the Iranian filmmaker joins a extremely rare circle: that of filmmakers who conquered the three biggest festivals on the planet: Cannes, Berlin and Venice.

Jafar Panahi had already marked Berlin by winning the golden bear to Taxi Tehran (in 2015), a moving and cunning portrait of the Iranian company filmed from the interior of a car. And it’s with The circle (In 2000) that he had won the Golden Lion in Venice, denouncing with clinical precision the condition of women in his country. With this Palme d’Or Cannes, he became the fifth director to align these three major trophies.

Because it is a extremely rare feat, shared so far by Henri-Georges Clouzotcrowned in Venice for Manon (1949), then doubly sacred in 1953 with Fear wageswhich won both the golden bear in Berlin and the Grand Prix in Cannes (the ancestor of the Palme d’Or) – which no other film has ever done.

Michelangelo Antonioni has also engraved his name in history with The Notte (1961) in Berlin, The red desert (Il Deserto Rosso1964) in Venice and Work-up (1967) in Cannes.

As of Robert Altmanhe won with MASH* (1970) in Cannes, Buffalo Bill and the Indians (1976) in Berlin and Short Cuts (1993) in Venice.

To this prestigious list, we can also add the name of Jean-Luc Godardalso crowned by the three giants: Lion d’Or in Venice for First name Carmen (1983), gold bear in Berlin for Alphaville (1965), and honored by a special golden palm in Cannes for The image book (2018) – Tribute to the whole of an rebellious work.

Thanks to A simple Accident,, Jafar Panahi Today is part of this line of giants.