Jafar Panahi Says He Will Return to Iran After Oscar Season to Serve His Prison Sentence

Earlier today, Iranian director Jafar Panahi was sentenced to a year in jail by an Iranian court. The problem for authorities is that he is currently out of the country, having attended the Gotham Awards tonight in New York.

We were wondering, will he or won’t he go back to Iran?

Panahi is now telling Showbiz411 that he won’t seek asylum in any country and in fact plans to return to Tehran to serve his jail sentence after Oscar season concludes. A brave man. Anyone else would have avoided going back to Iran like the plague, but Panahi isn’t just standing up for his own freedom—he’s making a statement for the Iranian people as well.

Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident” won Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Film tonight at the Gothams, and the film is predicted to receive several Oscar nominations next year, including Best Picture and Best Director, and at this point, will probably win Best International Feature.

Can you imagine a scenario in which Panahi wins his Oscar, only to return to Iran—not to a hero’s welcome, but to immediate incarceration? That’s what is expected to happen, yet Panahi wouldn’t have it any other way. He would rather risk martyrdom for the sake of the Iranian people than avoid his home country for the rest of his life.

“It Was Just An Accident” had been shot secretly last year, without official permit in Iran. During production, some crew members were reportedly detained or questioned. According to a recent account, after just one day of filming, some team members were arrested. Before the Cannes premiere, some associated with the film — including female actors — were reportedly summoned by Iran’s “Ministry of Intelligence.”

If Panahi’s earlier films were more subtle in their political messaging, often embedding critique within layered storytelling, “It Was Just an Accident” is his most direct and unflinching condemnation of Iran’s government to date. Given the circumstances, making this film was an undeniably courageous act, and clearly came with a price to pay.