Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday for his revenge thriller “It Was Just an Accident,” handing the festival’s top prize to a director who had been banned from leaving Iran for more than 15 years.

Cate Blanchett presented the award to Panahi, who three years ago was imprisoned in Iran before going on a hunger strike. For a decade and a half, he has made films clandestinely in his native country, including one film (“This Is Not a Film”) made in his living room, and another (“Taxi”) set in a car.

The crowd rose in a thunderous standing ovation for the filmmaker, who immediately threw up his arms and leaned back in his seat in disbelief before applauding his collaborators and the audience around him.

Onstage, Panahi said what mattered most was freedom in his country.

“Let us join forces,” said Panahi. “No one should dare tell us what kind of clothes we should wear, what we should do or what we should not do. The cinema is a society. Nobody is entitled to tell what we should or refrain from doing.”

The Grand Prix was awarded to Joachim Trier’s Norwegian family drama “Sentimental Value,” his lauded follow- up to “The Worst Person in the World.”

Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Brazilian political thriller “The Secret Agent” won two big awards: best director for Filho and best actor for Wagner Moura.

The jury prize was split between Óliver Laxe’s desert road trip “Sirât” and Mascha Schilinski’s German, generation- spanning drama “Sound of Falling.” Best actress went to Nadia Melliti for “The Little Sister,” Hafsia Herzi’s French coming-of-age drama.

Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, who are two-time Palme d’Or winners, won best screenplay for their latest drama, “Young Mothers.” The festival’s award for best first film, the Camera d’Or, went to Hasan Hadi for “The President’s Cake,” making it the first Iraqi film to win at the festival.

‘Lilo & Stitch’ tops box office: “Lilo & Stitch” teamed with Tom Cruise for a monster Memorial Day box-office weekend.

Disney’s live-action version of “Lilo & Stitch” earned a staggering $145.5 million in North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday, the second-biggest domestic opening of the year after “A Minecraft Movie.”

The movie is a faithful remake of the 2002 original animated film’s story of a six-legged alien and a Hawaiian girl that has since created a big-cult following. It surpassed Cruise’s 2022 “Top Gun: Maverick” as the biggest domestic Memorial Day weekend earner ever, and global estimates put it past $300 million.

Paramount Pictures’ “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” was a distant second, but still brought in a franchise record $63 million.

May 28 birthdays: Singer Gladys Knight is 81. Singer John Fogerty is 80. Musician Jerry Douglas is 69. Actor Brandon Cruz is 63. Singer Kylie Minogue is 57. Rapper Chubb Rock is 57. Actor Jake Johnson is 47. Actor Alexa Davalos is 43. Actor Megalyn Echikunwoke is 43. Singer Colbie Caillat is 40. Actor Carey Mulligan is 40.