It Was Just an Accident(2025)
dir. Jafar Panahi
Is this the man who tortured him? He has to know.
Where to watch: Streaming on HuluLetterboxd ↗
A mechanic in Iran becomes convinced that a man he's crossed paths with is the blindfolded interrogator who once tortured him in prison — and enlists other former detainees to help him confirm it, with escalating and morally uncertain consequences.
Why it’s here
Punk in the literal sense that its own existence defies a state filmmaking ban — Panahi shot this clandestinely after his own imprisonment, and it's his most direct attack yet on Iran's security apparatus. Pedagogical in refusing easy catharsis: revenge here is morally murky, and the film makes you sit with that uncertainty rather than cheering a clean reckoning.
Where This Film Lives
- Setting
- Iran
Read Alongside
Books that share a topic, theme, or setting with this film.
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The CIA overthrew Iran's democracy. For oil.
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Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
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Disoriental
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Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story)
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Funny in Farsi
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An Iranian family in California. Dad is an eternal optimist.
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Honeymoon in Tehran
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She goes back to Tehran to build a life there.
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It Ain't So Awful, Falafel
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Iranian American in 1979. Her country is on the news. Not in a good way.
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