Jafar Panahi Calls on Oscars to Change International Feature Rules

Jafar Panahi is one of a handful of directors to have achieved the feat of winning the Venice Golden Lion, the Berlin Golden Bear and the Cannes Palme d’Or. But he has never been part of the Oscar race.

Why? Because Iran has never put forth any of the films from the dissident director, who was long banned by the country from making movies — though he made them anyway — and has been twice incarcerated.

But with his recent Palme d’Or winner “It Was Just an Accident,” that is about to change. The film’s U.S. distributor Neon and its French producer, Philippe Martin, are now pushing Panahi for Oscar glory, starting with an attempt to get France to submit the film as their contender for best international feature.

Meanwhile, after making a stop at Toronto Film Festival, Panahi has obtained a visa to enter the U.S. and will be attending the Telluride and New York Film Festivals. The film, which follows a group of former political prisoners who kidnap a man whom they believe to be their former interrogator, will be released by Neon in the U.S. on Oct. 15.

According to Martin, France’s state film entity CNC has given its approval for the film to be on the shortlist of titles from which the country will pick its contender for the Oscars race.

“It’s a great opportunity for France to honor Panahi, noting that he is the only living director to have won top prizes and Cannes, Venice and Berlin,” Martin said, pointing out that the recent Cannes Palme generated an “unprecedented amount of press” and has had a “huge echo” both “artistically and politically.”

Below, Panahi speaks to Variety about what he’s been up to since Cannes and why an Oscar for “It Was Just an Accident” would be significant — not just for him, but for all “independent filmmakers who don’t want to be under the pressure of censorship.”