NEW YORK (AP) — France announced Wednesday that it has selected the Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning drama “It Was Just an Accident” as its submission to the Academy Awards.The selection gives an Oscar pathway to a film that Iran was certain not to select itself. Panahi, who has spent much of the last 15 years either under house arrest, banned from travel or incarcerated, made “It Was Just an Accident,” like his previous films, in his native Iran without government permission.Only countries can make submissions for the Academy Awards best international category, a process that has drawn criticism for allowing authoritarian regimes to dictate which films are eligible for one of the most contested Oscars. A year ago, Germany submitted “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” by Panahi’s friend and countryman, Mohammad Rasoulof. In April, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tweaked its rules to allow filmmakers with refugee or asylum status to be represented by a country not their own.
“It Was Just an Accident” is Panahi’s first film since he was released from jail two years ago, following a hunger strike. He edited the film in France, co-financed it with a French company and, for the first time in more than a decade, traveled out of Iran to premiere the film in May at the Cannes Film Festival. There, it won the festival’s top award and was acquired by Neon, which is planning an awards campaign.
