CANNES 2025 AWARD WINNERS: Jafar Panahi’s ‘It Was Just An Accident’ Wins the Palme d’Or (Full List)

NEON has done it again.

After 10 days of highly buzzed new cinema and hot acquisitions, the 78th Cannes Film Festival concluded with the Palme d’Or being awarded to Jafar Panahi’s revenge thriller, It Was Just An Accident. After acquiring it for U.S. release just a few days prior, this makes it the sixth straight Palme in a row for distributor NEON, fresh off their Best Picture Oscar win for last year’s Palme d’Or winner, Anora.

Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident, set in his native Iran, centers on a group of formerly imprisoned dissidents who kidnap a man they think is their former torturer. This is his first film following his release from prison in 2023 after going on a hunger strike, and his return to Cannes in nearly two decades. Like his previous works, it was made without official filming permission from the Iranian authorities. He was cheered as he received his Palme and urged fellow Iranians to “set aside” differences and problems.

Other big wins for NEON include Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, which took home the Grand Prix (runner-up); Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, which picked up both Best Director and Best Actor for Wagner Moura; and Oliver Laxe’s Sirât being one of the two recipients of the Jury Prize.

The second recipient of the Jury Prize was German director Mascha Schilinski’s multi-generational drama, Sound of Falling. MUBI acquired the film earlier this week and will likely set it for release later this year. The award for Best Actress was presented to Nadia Melliti for her performance in Hafsia Herzi’s The Little Sister, which also picked up the Queer Palm award. The Best Screenplay award went to Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for their newest contemporary drama, Young Mothers. A Special Prize was awarded to Bi Gan’s labyrinthian Resurrection, one of the late entries to the festival.

The jury for this year’s main competition consisted of actress Juliette Binoche (Jury President), actress Halle Berry, actor Jeremy Strong, filmmaker Payal Kapadia, filmmaker Carlos Reygadas, filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher, filmmaker Hong Sangsoo, Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, and Congolese filmmaker Dieudo Hamadi.

See the full list of winners below.

IN COMPETITION

Palme d’Or: “It Was Just an Accident”

Grand Prix: “Sentimental Value”

Jury Prize: *TIE* “Sirât” & “Sound of Falling”

Best Actress: Nadia Melliti, “The Little Sister”

Best Actor: Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”

Best Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho, “The Secret Agent”

Best Screenplay: Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne, “The Young Mother’s Home”

Camera d’Or: Hasan Hadi, “The President’s Cake”

Camera d’Or Special Mention: “My Father’s Shadow,” Akinola Davies Jr.

Special Award: Bi Gan, “Resurrection”

Short Film Palme d’Or: “I’m Glad You’re Dead Now,” Tawfeek Barhom

Short Film Special Mention: “Ali,” Adnan Al Rajeev

Golden Eye Documentary Prize: “Imago,” Déni Oumar Pitsaev

Golden Eye Documentary 10th Anniversary Prize: “The Six Billion Dollar Man”

Queer Palm: Hafsia Herzi, “The Little Sister”

UN CERTAIN REGARD

Prix Un Certain Regard: “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” Diego Céspedes

Jury Prize: “A Poet,” Simón Mesa Soto

Best Screenplay: Harry Lighton, “Pillion”

Best Performance: Cléo Diara, “I Only Rest in the Storm” and Frank Dillane, “Urchin”

Best Director: Tarzan and Arab Nasser, “Once Upon a Time in Gaza”

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT

Directors’ Fortnight People’s Choice Award: “The President’s Cake”

Europa Cinemas Label for Best European Film: “Wild Foxes,” Valéry Carnoy

SACD Coup de Cœur Prize: “Wild Foxes,” Valéry Carnoy

CRITICS’ WEEK

Grand Prix: “A Useful Ghost,” Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke

French Touch Prize of the Jury: “Imago,” Déni Oumar Pitsaev

Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award: Théodore Pellerin for “Nino,” Pauline Loquès

Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for Short Film: “L’mina,” Randa Maroufi

Gan Foundation Award for Distribution: Le Pacte, French distributor for “Left-Handed Girl” by Shih-Ching Tsou

SACD Award: Guillermo Galoe and Victor Alonso-Berbel, authors of “Sleepless City”

Canal+ Award for Short Film: “Erogenesis,” Xandra Popescu