Panahi, long censored and previously imprisoned in his home country, took top prize as Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent also honoured The dissident Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi has won the top prize at the Cannes film festival for his drama It Was Just an Accident, inspired by his stints of imprisonment at the hands of the Iranian government. The film was the first in many years made by the director after a ban on film-making was lifted – although he has continued to direct despite being expressly forbidden to do so. In 2011, a year after his first arrest, a copy of his drama This Is Not a Film was snuck into Cannes on a USB stick hidden in a cake. Continue reading...