The highly political but wry film, "It Was Just An Accident" was shot in secret and tackles political repression and torture head-on, with a story about four ordinary Iranians who believe they have found their jail interrogator.
Panahi is a symbol of defiance, someone who has continued to make films despite receiving a 20-year ban in 2010.
He spent nearly seven months behind bars in 2022-2023 and smuggled a copy of a previous film to the Cannes Festival hidden in a cake.
Cannes Film Festival closed on Saturday with the drama-filled day that saw Cannes suffer a more than five-hour power cut.
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