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Jafar Panahi

11 July 1960 – present

Jafar Panahi is an Iranian film director and screenwriter associated with the Iranian New Wave. His features, among them The White Balloon, The Circle, Offside and Taxi, have won top prizes at the Cannes, Venice and Berlin film festivals. He has been arrested and imprisoned in Iran on several occasions and was placed under a long ban on filmmaking and travel, continuing to make films during that period.

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Life events

Born in Mianeh, Iran
11 July 1960

Born in the East Azerbaijan province of north-western Iran.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Studied filmmaking in Tehran
c. 1985

Trained at the College of Cinema and Television in Tehran after military service.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Education ✓
Worked as assistant director to Abbas Kiarostami
1994

Assisted on Through the Olive Trees before making his own first feature.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
The White Balloon won the Caméra d'Or at Cannes
1995

His debut feature took the prize for best first film.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
The Circle won the Golden Lion at Venice
2000

The film, about the lives of several Iranian women, took the festival's top prize.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Offside won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival
2006

The film follows girls trying to attend a football match in Tehran.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Sentenced to prison and banned from filmmaking
2010

An Iranian court sentenced him to six years in prison and a twenty-year ban on making or presenting films and on travel.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Personal ✓
Taxi won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival
2015

Shot covertly inside a car in Tehran during his filmmaking ban, the film took the festival's top award.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Imprisoned in Tehran and released the following year
2022 – 2023

Detained at Evin Prison in July 2022 and freed in February 2023 after beginning a hunger strike.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Personal ✓
Won the Palme d'Or at Cannes for It Was Just an Accident
2025

Received the festival's top prize and attended Cannes in person.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓