CIFF 2025 – It Was Just An Accident

“It Was Just an Accident” is the first film from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi after the Iranian regime had apparently lifted the restrictions they had placed on his art. A longtime critic of the Iranian government, Panahi was arrested in 2022 after being given a six-year prison sentence in 2010 with a 20-year ban on working. While he was imprisoned for his supposed crimes against the regime, he spent most of his time in solitary confinement, blindfolded whenever he was taken out to be interrogated and relying on his other senses to determine his surroundings. While he was able to make film projects in Iran before then, often secretly and staring himself (2022’s “No Bears”) that were released abroad, the thriller “It Was Just An Accident” is his feature-length narrative film since 2003’s “Offside.” The film is a co-production between Iran, France, and Luxembourg, and won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this past May. It will be France’s entry for Best International Feature for next year’s Oscars. Before it gets released here in the States by Neon, it stops at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF), which runs from October 15-26, 2025

The film opens on a man and a pregnant woman driving late at night with their young daughter in the backseat. The man stops after realizing he has run over a dog that was in the road. It was obviously just an accident. He steps out in the dark and checks on the front of the car and then goes around to the back, where he sees the dog’s body and proceeds drags it over to the side of the road. Panahi doesn’t show the dog, keeping the camera on the man, primarily his face, who is either dimly lit by the front headlight or basked in the red light of the vehicles rear lights. As he gets back in the car, it’s obvious his daughter is upset with him, and he rationalizes, “God simply put it in our path for a reason,” and without missing a beat, the child replies, “God had nothing to do with it.” One wonders if this man will have the same view of God’s intervention within the next 24 hours.

The next time we see him, he’s pulling his vehicle into a nearby garage to assess the damage. The Azerbaijani auto mechanic there, Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), recognizes the man from his voice and especially the sound of his walk. He believes him to be Eghbal (Ebrahim Aziz), a man who tortured him and others while they were political prisoners in an Iranian prison. He only knew his voice because he, like the others, were blindfolded most of the time, and they gave their tormentor the nickname Peg Leg due to the distinctive sound his artificial right leg made when he walked. Acting impulsively and with a burning desire for revenge, Vahid follows the man the next day and kidnaps him, tossing him into the back of his van. He drives out into the middle of the dessert and digs a whole deep enough to bury a body. Will Vahim bury his pain with his tormentor? Can such an action be justified?

As Vahim starts to drop dirt on top of the blindfolded man, who is now at the bottom of the whole, he is struck with doubt. After Vahim explains to the man why he’s in this situation, the man claims he’s never worked in a prison and doesn’t have any idea what Vahid is going on about. He also states that he only lost his leg in an accident the previous year. Sure enough, the scars on the man’s stump looks like they’re still healing, and as good as it would feel to be rid of this phantom from his past, Vahim still has to be sure. His only option is to stuff the man into a wooden cargo container in the back of his van, and drive around Tehran to find his fellow ex-prisoners to see if they can help identify the captive’s identity.

Panahi slowly injects humor to the proceedings, but never at the cost of the apparent tension of the whole endeavor. The comedy is due to the situations Vahim gets himself in, which only increases once he tracks down others. First he goes to a bookstore owner, who refuses to get involved. Still, he directs him to Shiva (Mariam Afshari), a photographer who is currently shooting a couple, Goli (stage actress Hadis Pakbaten) and Ali (Majid Panahi the director’s nephew) in their wedding apparel. Of the three, two of them were also past victims of Eghbal. Shiva takes a whiff of the restrained man and feels that it is indeed him. Goli also agrees, but there is still uncertainty. To seek greater confirmation, they all hop in the van and track down Shiva’s former partner, Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr), who reveals himself to be a hothead who has no patience for the hesitancy of the others. Everyone is driven back to the site of the whole that Vahim dug, and as they passionately discuss what to do with this man, who may or may not be Eghbal, a cell phone rings. It’s coming from the wooden cargo container. Much to the disapproval of everyone else, Vahim retrieves the phone and answers it – it’s the man’s daughter. Her mother has fainted and needs to go to the hospital. Now what?

From here, the story pivots from one awkward situation to another, as Panahi reveals more about each character over the next 24 hours. The urgency felt in “It Was Just An Accident” comes from the Vahim’s panicked state throughout. He has emotional trauma and physical pain (primarily his kidneys), but he’s a good guy in his heart which brings new anguish to his situation as his group’s differing responses surface. Hamid understandably demands that they use the same tactic’s the regime was fine with implementing. But, how will that make them any better than him and what will they then have to live with?

Panahi and his cinematographer Amin Jafari spend more time aiming the camera on the frantic abductors than they do their hostage. Vahim and his group are often filmed crammed into his van, discussing the rationale of their possible choices and what the ramifications could be. Panahi is and has been an empathetic artist and is well aware how tempting it can be to go there internally and seek vengeance, but the moral dillemma is stronger than the pain that was caused in the past. In the film’s third act, Vahim and his cohorts must perform certain acts of kindness that their torturor would never consider. Some of these moments are ironically humorous, but in retrospect they can actually be regarded as cathartic efforts that may unintentionally begin a healing process for these former prisoners.

Panahi’s approach to the subject matter, especially in how he presents details and introduces characters and their motivations, resembles specific works from auteurs like Park Chan-wook and Alfred Hitchcock. A cast of mostly unprofessional actors aids him, save for Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr. In real life, Mobasseri is a a television station programmer and part-time cab driver, while Afshari is a karate instructor. Perhaps that lends to the strength of the emotional authenticity the characters have as they wrestle with the sudden situations they’re thrown into.

Just as his previous recent films were, “It Was Just An Accident” was filmed primarily in secret, without a filming permit from the Islamic Republic. Yes, the ban has been lifted, but he still has to be careful, so the situation doesn’t repeat itself. That being said, this is the first of his films where some women are seen without their hijab, which is mandatory for women under the law in Iran. It’s not just out of rebellion, but a decision that makes sense for the characters in his films, and shows a forward outlook towards a hopeful future.

“It Was Just An Accident” ends on what will sure to be one of the most profound and memorable endings of the year. After we’ve spent time with these characters, ruminating over what should be done, we’re reminded that recrimination is ultimately pointless.

RATING: ****

“It Was Just An Accident” premiered in the U.S. on October 15th at the Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF), and will be come to the Music Box Theatre in Chicago on October 31st for “one week only.” Look for Neon to spread the release wider in the coming weeks.