PANAHI & KIAROSTAMI: TWO MASTERS

Friday, January 2 - Thursday, January 8, 2026

In May of 2025, Jafar Panahi became only the second Iranian director to win the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival with his film It Was Just An Accident. The previous Iranian winner was Abbas Kiarostami, who won for TASTE OF CHERRY in 1997.

Panahi and Kiarostami are not only Iranian cinema masters, they also had a long personal and professional relationship. Their first recognition at Cannes came in 1995, when Panahi’s debut film, THE WHITE BALLOON, written by Kiarostami, won the Camera d’Or (for best first film).

But their connection goes back even further. Panahi’s first short film, The Friend (1992), was made as a tribute to Kiarostami’s first short, Bread and Alley (1970). After Panahi contacted Kiarostami to express his admiration for the older director’s work, Kiarostami hired him as an assistant on his 1994 film THROUGH THE OLIVE TREES (in which Panahi appears as himself). Kiarostami subsequently wrote another Panahi feature, CRIMSON GOLD (2003).

Both directors have had difficulties with the authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran, including having several films banned. In 2010, Panahi’s anti-government activism led to his being sentenced to six years in prison (commuted to house arrest) and 20 years not making films. Nevertheless, he has continued making films without government permission; It Was Just An Accident is his fifth since the ban.

Despite the many challenges of making films in Iran, Kiarostami and Panahi demonstrated the beauty and sophistication of Persian culture to filmgoers around the world in their numerous original and distinctive films. Their work places them among the great masters in the history of cinema.

Conceived and programmed by critic Godfrey Cheshire, this series spotlights the history-making achievements of the two directors with a selection of their most celebrated films. The features screen in nine pairings, putting Kiarostami and Panahi’s work in conversation:

And Life Goes On and Offside

Close-Up and 3 Faces

Where Is the Friend’s House and The White Balloon

The Wind Will Carry Us and No Bears

Taste of Cherry and The Circle

The Traveler and Crimson Gold

Ten and Taxi

Closed Curtain

Through the Olive Trees and This Is Not a Film

A panel discussion about Panahi and Kiarostami’s work, moderated by Cheshire and featuring Jamsheed Akrami, historian and writer Arash Azizi, critic Leslie Camhi and film professor Richard Peña, will take place Sunday, January 4 at 1:15pm, following the 11:30am screening of THROUGH THE OLIVE TREES.

See more and save! Get a Panahi & Kiarostami Ticket Pack ($30 for IFC Center members and $45 for non-members). Ticket packs are good for any three screenings in the series.