FILM DIRECTOR

Jafar Panahi

1960 - Today

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Jafar Panâhi (Persian: جعفر پناهی, [d͡ʒæˈfæɾ pænɒːˈhiː]) (born 11 July 1960) is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and editor. He is known internationally for his contributions to Iranian cinema and has received numerous awards at major film festivals, including the Palme d'Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival for It Was Just an Accident, the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for Taxi (2015), and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for The Circle (2000). These accolades make him the fourth filmmaker — after Henri-Georges Clouzot, Michelangelo Antonioni and Robert Altman — to win the top prizes at the Big Three film festivals. Panahi began his career making short films and working as an assistant to Abbas Kiarostami. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Jafar Panahi is the 189th most popular film director (up from 239th in 2019), the 139th most popular biography from Iran (up from 170th in 2019) and the 2nd most popular Iranian Film Director.

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Among FILM DIRECTORS

Among film directors, Jafar Panahi ranks 189 out of 2,041. Before him are Kathryn Bigelow, Ed Wood, Sean Baker, Joris Ivens, Arthur Penn, and Chantal Akerman. After him are G. W. Pabst, Jean Negulesco, Dino Risi, Joel Schumacher, Vincente Minnelli, and Margarethe von Trotta.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1960, Jafar Panahi ranks 42. Before him are Kim Ki-duk, Eric Adams, Hiroyuki Sanada, Damon Hill, BD Wong, and Gustavo Petro. After him are Kelly LeBrock, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, David Duchovny, Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran, Bono, and Yves Leterme.

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In Iran

Among people born in Iran, Jafar Panahi ranks 139 out of 631. Before him are Phraates IV (-90), Mulla Sadra (1571), Vologases VI (200), Bahram Chobin (600), Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar (1853), and Mohammad Khodabanda (1531). After him are Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh (1883), Sasan (200), Anastasius of Persia (550), Mehran Karimi Nasseri (1942), Teispes (-675), and Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran (1960).

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Among FILM DIRECTORS In Iran

Among film directors born in Iran, Jafar Panahi ranks 2. Before him are Abbas Kiarostami (1940). After him are Barbet Schroeder (1941), Shirin Neshat (1957), Asghar Farhadi (1972), Majid Majidi (1959), Dariush Mehrjui (1939), Mohsen Makhmalbaf (1957), Mohammad Rasoulof (1972), Masoud Kimiai (1941), Ali Abbasi (1981), and Ali Hatami (1944).

Iranian born Film Directors

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