“A blast of pure anti-authoritarian rage” — See five of the shortlisted finalists for this year’s LUX Audience Awards this season at Scandinavia House! On February 27 we’ll be screening It Was Just An Accident, a bristling, raw political thriller by Azeri director Jafar Panahi. Praised by Rolling Stone as “one of the most deceptively profound movies of the year,” It Was Just An Accident reaffirms Panahi’s status as one of this century’s great cinematic heroes in perhaps his bravest film yet, a tale of revenge and impossible choice that won him the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
Vahid, an unassuming mechanic, is suddenly reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he has a chance encounter with Eghbal, a man he strongly suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor. Panicked, Vahid gathers several former prisoners, all abused by that same captor, to try and confirm Eghbal’s identity. Master filmmaker Panahi creates a deeply felt moral thriller, where high stakes tension combines with unexpected flurries of humor and thoughtful, sometimes devastating questions regarding persecution and revenge versus compassion and understanding. France’s official selection for Best International Feature at the 2026 Academy Awards.
“It’s a cry from the heart, a comic howl in the dark and one of the year’s essential movies.” (Manohla Dargis, The New York Times Critic’s Pick)
This event has been organized by the European Parliament in partnership with Scandinavia House.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
One of the world’s great cinema artists, Jafar Panahi has been crafting self-reflexive works about political, artistic, and personal freedom for the past three decades, despite being banned from filmmaking by the government of his native Iran since 2010.
ABOUT THE LUX AUDIENCE AWARD
The LUX Audience Award is a joint initiative of the European Parliament and the European Film Academy in collaboration with the European Commission and Europa Cinemas. It is the largest audience award worldwide and the only film prize in the world where citizens together with Members of the European Parliament -with each group weighting 50% -can decide who the winner will be by rating the nominated films online.
The LUX Audience Award fosters dialogue and engagement between politics and the public through the medium of film. The nominated films address European values and raise awareness about some of today’s main social and political issues such as mental health, poverty, climate change, freedom of expression, gender equality, LGBTIQ+ rights.