Neon Reveals ‘Jafar Panahi – The Accidental Tour’ for Late November
by Alex Billington
November 19, 2025
Source: Neon
He’s off on a road tour! The best-in-the-biz indie distributor Neon has just announced that they’re taking award-winning Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi on a tour around the US for Q&As for his new film titled It Was Just an Accident (watch the trailer) – which already began its run in limited theaters in October. Check your local listings. Most cinephiles already know that Panahi won the coveted Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival for this film, which is about a group of Iranian people seeking revenge on a man they believe is their torturer from the time they were kept in prison by Iran’s authoritarian regime. It’s “a deeply felt moral thriller, where high stakes tension combines with unexpected flurries of humor and thoughtful, sometimes devastating questions regarding persecution & revenge.” Neon has revealed that Panahi will tour with It Was Just an Accident to 7 cities in late November: mainly in NY, CA, WA, MA, IL. He will also make “a new short film to document his journey” while on the road. Panahai was imprisoned by Iran in 2010 for making films and then again in 2022 – and was barely released in 2023 before he went on to make this film.
You can view the official trailer for Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident right here – and find tickets here.
Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri), an unassuming mechanic, has a chance encounter with Eghbal, a man that he strongly suspects to be his former sadistic jailhouse captor. Panicked, he gathers several former prisoners, all abused by that same captor, to try and confirm Eghbal’s identity. As the bickering group drives around Tehran with the captive, they now must confront how far to take matters into their own hands with their presumed tormentor. It Was Just an Accident, originally known as Un Simple Accident (in French) or also A Simple Accident, is written and directed by iconic Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, director of many films including The Circle, The Mirror, Crimson Gold, Offside, Closed Curtain, Taxi Tehran, 3 Faces, and No Bears previously. Produced by Jafar Panahi, Philippe Martin, David Thion. This initially premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, where it won the Palme d’Or top prize. Neon opens Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident film in select US theaters starting October 15th, 2025 this fall. Tour details here.
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