25,000 Dollar Prize for Jafar Panahi's 'Gol'

Jafar Panahi won the 25,000 dollar 'Asia Pacific' award for the screenplay of his new project titled 'Gol'. Every year after the 'Asia Pacific' ceremony, 100,000 dollars are awarded to 4 selected screenplays to assist in film production, and in its eighth edition, Jafar Panahi was able to be one of these 4 winners for his screenplay 'Gol'. This year, among 100 submitted screenplays, besides Jafar Panahi, filmmakers from Bangladesh, Denmark, and Israel also received this production grant. In previous years, several Iranian filmmakers, including Asghar Farhadi, have won this award. However, Jafar Panahi's new screenplay is inspired by a true story and addresses the lives of disabled individuals and their challenges in Iranian society. 'Gol' tells the story of a father who must kill his paralyzed son to restore peace to his family. Panahi's son, Panah Panahi, who has assisted him in several films, is set to direct this film in the near future. The last film made by Jafar Panahi, 'The Curtain', participated in the Berlin Festival two years ago and won the best screenplay award. Panahi directed this film, which has not yet been released in Iran, alongside Kambuzia Partovi. This joint work, along with 'This is Not a Film', another joint work with Mojtaba Mir Tahmasb, are works that Jafar Panahi has brought to the screen during his imprisonment and travel ban. These two works, along with several of his previous films such as 'Offside', 'Crimson Gold', and 'The Circle', are banned in Iran and are not allowed to be screened. Jafar Panahi, who was arrested and imprisoned after the protests against the 2009 elections, was sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment and 20 years of prohibition from filmmaking, screenwriting, traveling abroad, and any form of interviews with domestic and foreign media based on a court ruling for 'conspiracy and propaganda against the Islamic Republic'.