A massive five-hour regional power outage on the day of the Cannes Film Festival closing ceremony gave new meaning to “if there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Somehow, electricity was restored just in time for a moment that those present will never forget: Jafar Panahi winning the Palme d’Or.

The Iranian dissident director, who has been jailed twice in his country and until April 2023 was serving a 20-year ban from traveling or making films, won for “It Was Just An Accident” — a riveting political thriller in which a group of former prisoners kidnap and confront the guard who tortured them. But do they have the right guy?

Panahi was greeted with a rare prescreening standing ovation.

— The Washington Post