Jafar Panahi’s Bold Plea at Toronto: “We’re All Free”—Or Are We Doomed to Authoritarian Nightmares?
Added on September 8, 2025 inMovie News Cards
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Here’s a thought: with Mars in its stubborn retrograde, are we inadvertently wrestling with old demons in new digs? Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, fresh off receiving a Special Tribute Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, certainly thinks so. Peering through those signature sunglasses, Panahi warned the TIFF crowd that repression and authoritarianism aren’t just headline fodder but growing ominous shadows creeping even where we least expect them. Having endured imprisonment in Iran’s Evin Prison himself, his words carry the weight of lived experience—and a chill reminder that freedom’s flame is flickering, not just overseas but everywhere we call home. As Panahi unveiled his Palme d’Or winner, It Was Just an Accident, a political debut, he didn’t just share a film; he shared a warning. So, can we decode the cosmic signs and turn this tide, or are we all just playing characters in an ominous screenplay? Dive deeper into the TIFF revelations and what they mean for art, activism, and us. LEARN MORE
Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi has warned the Toronto Film Festival that people everywhere need to take heed of signs of spreading repression and authoritarianism.
“The truth is I’m little bit scared. I’m seeing things around that are not good signs,” Panahi, wearing sunglasses, said when accepting a Special Tribute Award at the TIFF fundraising gala. Panahi is in Toronto for a screening of his Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident, his first film and a pointedly political one that follows only a few years earlier the filmmaker being imprisoned in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison.
“I see signs that make me scared about where we’re headed, and exactly in places where we thought we’d never see these signs,” the Iranian director told a TIFF audience after noting that being forbidden by Iranian authorities to travel abroad until recent years left him shaken by what he has seen internationally.
“In order for us to make a world in which we can all live comfortably, we are each responsible for our own countries. Here’s hoping for a world in which we’re all friends, we’re all intimate and we’re all free,” Panahi added after receiving a standing ovation during the awards ceremony in the Royal York Hotel.
The Iranian auteur was among a host of big cinema world names to hand out or receive honors Sunday night at the Tribute Awards. After Brendan Fraser welcomed the gala awards ceremony audience, German actor Nina Hoss received a Performer Award while on hand at TIFF for the world premiere of Nia DaCosta’s Hedda, an adaptation of the classic stage play Hedda Gabler.
Hoss paid tribute to director DaCosta, who presented her with a trophy alongside Tessa Thompson: “She created something, female characters that are so complex, and so nuanced, and you made it with such effortless, and you created space for all of us with such freedom.”
Horror meister Guillermo del Toro then came on stage to a standing ovation to receive a Tribute Award while screening Frankenstein, which bowed in Venice, for a North American premiere at TIFF. “We live in a world that now wants to tell us that art is not important. They want us senseless. They want us separated and they want us hopeless. We can’t allow that to happen. Which brings me to Canada. Canada is a vast source of hope in the world right now,” del Toro said.
The Mexican director also recalled being nearly fired in 1997 for the Toronto shoot of Mimic over creative differences with Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein. “I’m here. You’re not,” a grinning del Toro added.
Oscar-winning makeup artist Kazu Hiro also picked up an Artisan Award as he’s at TIFF to show off his work transforming Dwayne Johnson for The Smashing Machine, Benny Safdie’s drama about MMA and UFC pioneer Mark Kerr. Hiro in his acceptance speech marveled over the bushy eyebrows of director Safdie, who presented him with the trophy on stage, and added they reminded him of Abraham Lincoln’s dark and heavy eyebrows.
Actor-turned-director Idris Elba came on stage to pick up the Impact Media award as he brings his short film Dust to Dreams, starring Seal, to Toronto. “Right now, we all know it, it’s a bittersweet moment to receive an impact award when the world is at a crisis point. It’s important to acknowledge the pain the world is feeling together. I’m taking this award for us to remind ourselves to make an impact,” Elba said.
After a performance by singer Sekou Sylla, two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster received a Tribute Award and a standing ovation on Sunday night as she stars in Rebecca Zlotowski’s Private Life, a French psychological mystery that screened in Toronto after a world premiere in Cannes.
“It’s official. I’m officially completely sick and tired of myself,” a self-deprecating Foster said as she began her acceptance speech. But after 60 years in Hollywood, Foster added she still loved movies. “What a life, and the weird thing is, I weirdly feel I’m doing the best of my life,” she added, as she gave a shout out to Private Life, the third film in a row she has made with women directors.
Channing Tatum then received a Performer Award while at TIFF for the world premiere of Derek Cianfrance’s Roofman drama based on a true story. “He believed in me before I ever believed in myself,” Tatum said, paying tribute on stage to Cianfrance, a friend and confidante over two decades, while also thanking his mother, who was seated in the audience. “You kept it moving and we’re still here,” Tatum added.
The Studio star Catherine O’Hara was honored with a Career Achievement award in Toronto, after being introduced on stage by fellow SCTV alum Eugene Levy. “From trying to weasel my way into your parties 50 years ago, to this? Thank you very much,” O’Hara declared on stage as she held her trophy.
Japanese writer, director and producer Hikari picked up the TIFF Emerging Talent Award as his latest movie, Rental Family, which stars Brendan Fraser as an American actor in Japan, has a world premiere in Toronto., while Zacharias Kunuk also received a Special Tribute Award as he premieres at TIFF his latest film, Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband).
And veteran South Korean actor and Squid Game star Lee Byung-hun picked up a TIFF Special Tribute Award as his movie No Other Choice, directed by Park Chan-wook, has a North American premiere in Toronto.
The Toronto Film Festival continues to Sept. 14.
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