French producer Philippe Martin, whose Paris-based banner Les Films Pelleas last walked the Oscars trail in 2024 with Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall,” has landed at the center of the next international feature Oscar race with Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident.”
The Persian-language film, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, was selected to represent France — a decision that sparked debate due to its Iranian setting and cast, despite being almost entirely financed and produced in France. Neon, which had previously handled “Anatomy of a Fall,” scooped North American rights to “It Was Just an Accident” at Cannes and is campaigning for the movie in multiple categories, including best picture, director and screenplay, alongside international feature film. Following its Cannes unspooling, “It Was Just an Accident” was presented at Toronto and San Sebastian, as well as the New York Film Festival, among others. Sold around the world by MK2 Films, Panahi’s film was released in French theaters by Memento and has been a sleeper hit, selling over 600,000 admissions – an impressive box office performance for a foreign-language film — since its Oct. 1 bow. In the U.S., it’s so far had a limited release on Oct. 15 and has grossed over $528K. Despite the fact that he was banned from making films in Iran for over a decade until 2023, Panahi never stopped. He wasn’t allowed to travel outside of Iran but his films competed at major festivals such as Cannes and Berlin, notably “Taxi” which won the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2015, and “3 Faces” which won Best Screenplay at Cannes. But despite the laurels, none of these films could represent Iran since they were made clandestinely by Panahi, an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime. As such, “It Was Just an Accident” – a morally charged thriller where a seemingly minor event triggers a reckoning involving a suspected torturer taken hostage — marks not only his first feature since the bans were lifted, but also his debut in the Oscar race with an official submission.
Speaking with Variety, Martin discusses how the French Oscar selection of “It Was Just an Accident” came together, the film’s rollercoaster covert production which culminated with a police raid on set, the complex editing process and contribution of “Emilia Perez” editor, and Panahi’s determination to keep making movies despite years of censorship and personal risk in Iran.
Some people doubted that “It Was Just an Accident,” a Persian-language film shot in Iran, could be the French candidate for the Oscars. Did you think all along that it had a real shot, and were you surprised by the attempts at controversy?
Yes, I was surprised by those who tried to claim our film wasn’t a legitimate French Oscar submission, because the whole production is French. The financing is 95% French, with just a few thousand euros from Luxembourg. The Academy requires that the filmmaker of the chosen film have the submitting country’s nationality, or be a resident or refugee. And Jafar is a resident in France — he’s had a residence card for a year and a half. His daughter has an apartment here, and I think this year he spent more time in France than in Iran. So the film clearly meets all the AMPAS criteria to be a French submission. There have also been many examples of movies that weren’t in French and still represented France at the Oscars — for instance Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Turkish-language “Mustang,” which earned a nomination in 2016, or French movies that represented other countries, like Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” which won Austria the Oscar in 2013.
How has Jafar taken the good news of his film being chosen to represent France in the Oscar race?
I called him to tell him the news, and he was at Busan Festival — he was so happy! He hadn’t been sure it would ever be possible. He used to tell me, “Philippe, the French are such nationalists, they won’t want to choose my film!” But conversely, I was very confident. We worked hard to prepare the presentation before the French Oscar committee, along with Fionnuala Jamison and Nathanaël Karmitz at MK2 Films and Neon.
What argument do you think struck a chord and convinced the French committee to choose “It Was Just an Accident”?
Besides the fact that “It Was Just an Accident” meets all the criteria, it’s a film that won Cannes’ Palme d’Or from a director who had never before been able to enter the Oscar race because he couldn’t represent his country. It’s the first time he can represent a country. It would have been very surprising if a film from a director of that caliber — fully financed by France and winner of the Palme d’Or — had not been chosen to represent France. I also learned a lot preparing for the presentation. For instance, 18 of the last 20 films nominated for best international feature had premiered at Cannes where they won awards; and in recent years, most of the Oscar winners in that category were also nominated for best picture. So far, out of the films submitted this year, I think only Jafar’s appears in the predictions for best picture, best director, and best screenplay.
Yes, I’m hearing Neon is positioning it in multiple categories at the Oscars, not just international feature film.
Yes, we believe the film has a real shot in other categories. Neon and Jafar are running a hell of a campaign. Jafar is so dedicated to it. We know an Oscar campaign is exhausting — I’m starting to feel it a bit myself — but Jafar never complains. He’s now in the U.S., flying non-stop and doing countless interviews. Last month, he flew from Paris to L.A. with a stop in New York to go through immigration, then went straight to a screening for his film in Los Angeles, did the Q&A, stayed for the cocktail to mingle with voters, and flew back to New York that same night to do interviews scheduled the following morning as part of the New York Film Festival — all in a little more than 24 hours. His enthusiasm and boundless energy may have something to do with the fact that for 15 years, he was banned from speaking to journalists in Iran.
“It Was Just an Accident” isn’t your first collaboration with Jafar. How did you start working with him?
It all started when the Paris Opera asked me to run a digital platform called La Troisième Scène in 2016. The idea was to commission artists to make short films about forms of expression related to opera. One day, with a young producer who was working with me at the time, we said to ourselves, “Hey, why don’t we ask Jafar Panahi?” But Jafar was in Iran, so he wasn’t easy to reach. We found a friend of his who went on to play a very important role in everything that happened next — Pooya Abbasian. We contacted him and said we wanted to commission a film for the Paris Opera platform from Jafar Panahi, but we didn’t hear back. Then a year later, Pooya contacted us out of nowhere and said, “Jafar has made the film, and someone will give you a USB stick at Zurich Airport in a few days.”
It was quite surprising — first because he had accepted the commission without telling me, and second because he had precisely followed the guidelines. He made a film about a woman with an exceptional voice in a small Iranian village who is forced to sing in secret because the mollahs don’t want her to sing in front of men. The film tells the story of Jafar’s journey to find this woman. It’s very beautiful — at the end, the drape that hides her becomes the film screen.
It took roughly seven years for the two of you to reconnect?
Sadly, we couldn’t meet before because he couldn’t leave Iran. Then finally, in 2023, the bans were lifted. He could travel again and theoretically make films again. But that same year, his close friend and ally Hengameh Panahi (founder of Celluloid Dreams), who had sold his films for a long time, passed away. So Jafar no longer had a partner to make his films exist internationally.
That’s when we finally met. He told me he might have a film project, but he wasn’t sure yet. He said he could no longer finish his films or do post-production in Iran — it had become too risky. I told him, “You can count on me. I’ll produce your film.” He said, “Yes, but you know, during the shoot, I do it alone. It’s clandestine — no one must know anything.” He said, “My shoots are so risky they can be stopped at any moment by the police, and if the shoot isn’t finished, I don’t want to owe anyone money. So I’ll take the risk of shooting the film myself.”
So Jafar Panahi self-financed the shoot of “It Was Just an Accident”?
Yes. I told him, “Take the risk of filming, but as soon as the shoot is finished, I’ll reimburse you and take care of everything afterward.” I had never made a film like this. It was crazy. Usually you prepare so much before filming, but in this case, everything was clandestine — we had to adapt. I had very little information because Jafar doesn’t want anyone to know anything; he doesn’t want any script circulating for security reasons, to protect his team. He never gives the full script to his technicians or actors so that, if any of them get arrested and questioned, they can tell the truth and say they haven’t read it — they only know their own scenes.
But how did you raise the financing if you had so little information?
I managed to get hold of a very rough draft of the script because I needed it to apply for CNC funding (Aide au Cinéma du Monde). Then I spoke to Alexandre Mallet-Guy at Memento, the distributor, and Nathanaël Karmitz at MK2 Films, which handled international sales. I vaguely told them the story and they came on board. Later, Arte joined after the film was selected at Cannes. And we got a bit of money from Luxembourg.
Were there any hurdles during the shoot?
Yes. At the very end, 15 police officers showed up on set to stop the shoot and tried to take the rushes. They wanted to know what the film was about. The editor was on set that day and had brought his computer, which contained all the footage, to show Jafar. When the police searched the trunk of a car we were using, they took a camera instead of the editor’s computer, assuming the rushes were on the camera’s memory cards — but the cards were empty. If they had taken the computer, it would have been over. By then, the shoot was almost finished — just one sequence left. They couldn’t film outside anymore, it was too risky, so they shot the last scene in a garage with a green screen.
How did some of the cast and crew manage to travel out of Iran to attend the world premiere in Cannes?
It was difficult. We got visas for one technician and the actors, but then all the actors were summoned to the police station and dissuaded from going. They were told: “You have a visa, but don’t go — everything you say there will be used against you, and you’ll have problems when you get back.” The lead actress, Maryam Afshari, was threatened even more. They told her, “If you go there, if you walk up the steps without a veil, you’ll lose your job and your current life.” A couple of days before the premiere, Jafar told me, “We’re not going to make it — there’s too much pressure.” In Iran, even if you have a visa, you can still be banned from traveling once you reach the airport. They update that list of banned travelers daily. So until they boarded the plane, we didn’t know whether they’d make it. It was a rollercoaster. Everything about this film has been completely crazy.
Did they return to Iran after the Cannes premiere?
They all returned to Iran, except for the lead actress, who only went back a few days ago.
Jafar also returned and was warmly greeted by locals in Tehran. Were you surprised? Do you think the Palme d’Or has protected him?
For now, it seems the Palme d’Or protects everyone to some extent. When Jafar flew to Iran on Sunday evening, the day after the Cannes awards ceremony, they arrived in Tehran at dawn on Monday morning, wondering if the police would be waiting. He had spoken candidly, saying things that could be seen as controversial in Iran. But instead, he was welcomed by a crowd of people who came to congratulate him.
Why does he want to return to Iran even if it’s dangerous for him?
Because he loves his country — he’s happy there. When he spent three months in France last autumn, he missed Iran. His daughter has been living in France for 12 years, he has strong ties here, but his life is in Iran, and it’s Iran that inspires him. I’ve rarely come so close to the essence of courage. Last year, I was concerned for his safety and asked him about the risks he was taking. He said to me, “It’s not important. What’s important is that we talk about the film.”
How did you work with Jafar once the film was shot?
When he came to France with the film, there was already a basic edit. I was instantly impressed. When we completed the bulk of post-production, the film ran just under two hours. He flew back to Tehran, and we showed the film to Cannes. They liked it very much but found it a bit long. MK2 Films co-CEO Nathanaël Karmitz and I agreed it needed trimming. Jafar cut four or five minutes but ran out of ideas on what else to remove. That’s when I thought of asking Juliette Welfling, the editor of “Emilia Pérez,” to help. I knew Jafar loved that film, so I guessed he’d be open to working with Juliette, who was also keen to collaborate. At that point, Jafar was back in Iran, and we coordinated the editing through Pooya, who was in Greece and acted as our go-between (since Jafar speaks neither French nor English). Within 10 days, we had a new version — 20 minutes shorter — to submit to Cannes. I don’t know many directors willing to cut 20 minutes of their films in 10 days!
How do you feel “It Was Just an Accident” differs from Jafar’s other films?
It’s very different in many ways. First, he doesn’t appear in it — he’s been in most of his films for years. In the longer two-hour version, it had more in common with his previous work, with long, contemplative shots. When we cut it down, we decided to make it more tense and gripping, with a very different rhythm from his earlier films. The question of pacing was important to me. People often reduce the producer’s role to raising money — which is, of course, important — but overseeing editing is even more crucial. It’s a time when you, as a producer, have to be convincing without being authoritarian, and also patient. Directors and editors can reach a point where they just want to finish, but you’re the one who has to say, “This isn’t over — let’s keep going.”
Do you think you’ll work with him again?
Right now we’re knee-deep in the awards campaign, but after this chapter, I think we’ll dive into a new project fairly soon.
Will you encourage him to shoot in another country where it’s safer?
I can’t really see Jafar telling a Western story. But perhaps he could tell a story set in Iran and shoot elsewhere. The problem is, the conditions for clandestine filming in Iran force him to make a certain type of film. That’s why, when people ask him why there are always cars in his films, he says, “Because in a car, I can film without authorization.” If he wanted to make slightly more ambitious films in Iran, he’d have to make official ones, like Saeed Roustaee, who could film in courts, hospitals, or large sets with permission. For Jafar, I think this film will mark another turning point in his career — it’ll perhaps give him the impulse to imagine making a film outside.
