Jafar Panahi will not be in Karlovy Vary this July. The Iranian filmmaker, whose It Was Just an Accident won the Palme d'Or at Cannes 2025 and earned him an Oscar nomination, has been prohibited from leaving Iran after a court upheld a guilty verdict in early June 2026.
The charges: "propaganda against the regime." The sentence: one year in prison and a travel ban of two years.
Panahi was scheduled to attend the 60th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 3 to 11) as producer and editor of Hijamat, a new German film directed by Nader Saeivar. The film, competing in the Crystal Globe Competition, follows a man caught between family tradition and his desire to support his gay brother. It stars Kida Khodr Ramadan, Moritz Bleibtreu, and Nastassja Kinski.
"Because of his crucial involvement in Hijamat, we wanted him to come with the team," KVIFF Artistic Director Karel Och told The Hollywood Reporter.
The festival has a history with Panahi's work. KVIFF helped release It Was Just an Accident in Czech cinemas as recently as January 2026. His absence from the competition he helped shape marks a familiar pattern: Iranian authorities have cycled through arrests, filmmaking bans, and travel restrictions against Panahi for over a decade. Hijamat now enters its festival run without one of its key creative voices present.