Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident was awarded the $60,000 Sydney Film Prize on Sunday night, with the jury noting the importance of filmmakers being given the freedom to express what they see in “these times of great conflict and uncertainty”.
The Iranian director was unveiled as a surprise guest at the opening of this year’s Sydney Film Festival (SFF), where his 2025 Palme d’Or-winning film was screening in competition, and a retrospective of his features was also held.
Produced by Panahi and Philippe Martin, It Was Just an Accident begins with a family traveling on an isolated road, where an unfortunate bump in the road leads to their car being slightly damaged. At the repair shop in the middle of the night, a worker observes something that triggers a memory with immense repercussions. The film stars Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, and Ebrahim Azizi.
Panahi, who reportedly stepped back from attending screenings amid the Iran-Israel conflict, was on hand to accept the award in person at the state theatre on Sunday ahead of the Australian premiere of Michael Angelo Covino’s comedy Splitsville.
In presenting the prize, the SFF Jury of Justin Kurzel (president), Melita Toscan du Plantier, Rachel House, Winnie Tsang, and Thomas Weatherall said in a joint statement that Panahi’s film featured “outstanding performances and an understated authority which is brimming with truth”.
“In these times of great conflict and uncertainty, it is more important than ever that filmmakers are given the freedom to express what they see around them,” they said.
“The films we watched led with empathy, compassion, and kindness. The directors trusted that their stories would make us feel first, connect to a personal point of view, and they were political but human first. The winner of the Sydney Film Festival for 2025 embodied all these qualities, a courageous film with a deep soul and a powerful sense of forgiveness.”
Other winners from the evening included South Australia’s Shalom Almond, who took out the $20,000 Documentary Australia Award for her feature debut Songs Inside. Premiering at last year’s Adelaide Film Festival, the documentary First Nations singer and songwriter Nancy Bates as she leads a music program within the prison in preparation for a performance with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
Canadian filmmaker Lisa Jackson’s hybrid doc Wilfred Buck, which explores the life and teachings of Cree educator Wilfred Buck – a “star man” – whose luminous worldview blends Indigenous science, memory, and resilience, was awarded the $35,000 First Nations Award; and Australian filmmaker Jordan Giusti received the $40,000 Sustainable Future Award for his documentary Floodland, which explores love and loss through the experiences of several residents of Lismore, Australia’s most flooded postcode.
In the short film categories, Fraser Pemberton and William Jaka’s Faceless won the The Dendy Live Action Short prize and the AFTRS Craft Award for Best Practitioner for music and sound designer Josh Peters; Jemma Cotter’s The Fling was awarded the Yoram Gross Animation Award; and Rory Pearson received Best Australian Director and Rising Talent Award for Mates.
The $10,000 Sydney-UNESCO City of Film Award, bestowed by Screen NSW to a trail-blazing NSW-based screen practitioner, went to the Big Bang Sound Design team of Wayne Pashley and Libby Villa.
The awards closed the curtain on this year’s festival, which screened 242 films and featured 448 screenings and events.
Sydney Film Festival CEO Frances Wallace said the 72nd edition had been “extraordinary”.
“The 2025 Sydney Film Festival is the highest selling Festival in the Festival’s history, welcoming over 150,000 attendees – an 11 per cent increase on last year,” she said.
“We’re so grateful to the audiences, filmmakers, patrons, partners, and supporters who made this year such a success.”
NSW Arts Minister John Graham said this year’s turnout showed the festival was “stronger than ever”.
“It’s a tribute to the organisers and the tens of thousands of film fans who’ve turned out,” he said.
“This festival, its fans and its filmmakers have once again created an absolute highlight in Sydney’s events calendar.”