Behind the Screen: It Was Just an Accident

Description

IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT marks another remarkable act of defiance by Jafar Panahi, one of the most courageous filmmakers of our time. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, the film is a tense, darkly humorous thriller about Vahid, a mechanic who believes he has reencountered Eghbal, the intelligence officer who once tortured him. As Vahid gathers others whose lives were also scarred by Eghbal, a dangerous plan for revenge takes shape.

POST SCREENING PANEL DISCUSSION

Our distinguished panel will discuss IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT in the context of Iranian cinema, political expression, and the role of art as resistance under authoritarian rule.

ALI BANUAZIZI, Ph.D.

Research Professor of Political Science at Boston College and Faculty Affiliate at the Center for International Studies at M.I.T.

RASHIN FAHANDEJ

Multimedia Artist and Filmmaker; Research Fellow, MIT Open Documentary Lab

KAMRAN RASTEGAR, Ph.D.

Professor of Comparative Literature, Tufts University