France Selects "It Was Just An Accident" as Best International Feature Oscar Submission

France has selected Iranian director Jafar Panahi‘s Cannes Palme d’Or winner "It Was Just an Accident" as its candidate for the Best International Feature Film category of the 98th Academy Awards.

Panahi’s tense thriller stars Vahid Mubasseri as a man who believes he has found the man who tortured him while he was serving a prison sentence. Seeking revenge, he kidnaps him and begins to bury him alive in the desert.

Suddenly doubting that he has the right man, he seeks out a wedding photographer (Maryam Adshari) who was in jail with him, hoping she can confirm the man’s identity. She is in the middle of a photo shoot with a bride (Hadis Pakbaten) and groom (Majid Panahi). Tension rises as they are all thrown into the mix.

The members of the selection committee overseen by France’s National Cinema Centre (CNC), the identities of which were kept under wraps until after their decision was made public, comprised sales agent Carole Baraton (Charades), producer Thierry de Clermont-Tonnerre (Mact Production), director and screenwriter Audrey Diwan, producer Ron Dyens (Sacrebleu Production), sales agent Grégoire Melin (Kinology), programmer Adeline Monzier, producer Sylvie Pialat (Les Films du Worso), actor Clémence Poesy, producer Patrick Wachsberger and director Florian Zeller.

It was presided over by critic Charles Tesson.

“After winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes, It Was Just an Accident is now headed to the Oscars,” said CNC director Gaëtan Bruel.

“This Iranian drama, directed by the great filmmaker Jafar Panahi and produced with the decisive support of France, particularly the CNC, through Aide aux Cinémas du Monde, is proof that our country, 130 years after inventing cinema, is the beating heart of international co-productions and a welcoming land for creators from all over the world, especially those who are prevented from working in their own countries. I hope it wins the prestigious statuette.”

Panahi follows in the footsteps of friend and fellow dissident Mohammad Rasoulof, who represented Germany with The Seed of the Sacred Fig at the 97th Academy Awards, making it to the nomination stage.

"It Was Just an Accident" world premiered in Cannes, winning the Palme d’Or from a jury presided over by Juliette Binoche. It has since played at a raft of festivals including Locarno and Sydney, where it won the Audience Award, and most recently TIFF, where Panahi stopped by the Deadline Studio.

The movie heads next to the San Sebastian and New York film festivals. Neon has set an October 15 release date for New York and an October 17 one for Los Angeles, while French distributor Memento will launch the feature in French cinemas October 1.

The battle to be the Oscar French candidate was particularly fierce this year, with the other shortlisted candidates including Ugo Bienvenu’s "Arco," Hafsia Herzi’s "The Little Sister," Richard Linklater’s "Nouvelle Vague," and Rebecca Zlotowski’s "A Private Life" starring Jodie Foster.

This year’s selection follows in the wake of a tumultuous awards campaign for France’s 2025 entry, the Mexico-set musical film "Emilia Pérez" by Jacques Audiard.

The film started out as one of the 2024-25 awards season’s hot favorites, garnering a near-record 13 nominations, including in the Best International Feature Film category.

But its Oscar campaign hit the rails after  racist social media posts by the film’s star Karla Sofía Gascon, dating back to the early 2020s, were unveiled in early 2025. 

In the backdrop, the film also weathered criticisms over its portrayal of Mexico.

After making it onto the Best International Feature Film List, Emilia Pérez lost out in the category to Brazilian entry "I’m Still Here" by Walter Salles but clinched Oscars for Best Original Song and Best Supporting Actress (Zoe Saldaña).

France last won the international film Oscar with Régis Wargnier’s Indochine in 1993.

Prior to "Emila Pérez", Ladj Ly’s "Les Misérables" was the last French film to make it through to the final nomination stage in 2020, while Alice Diop’s "Saint Omer" and Tran Anh Hung’s "The Taste of Things" made it onto the shortlist.

The country’s filmmakers have also enjoyed success outside of the Best International Feature Film category, with Justine Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall enjoying a buzzy 2023-24 season and then winning the Best Original Screenplay Oscar.

The deadline for submission to the Best International Feature Film category of the 98th Academy Awards is October 1.