An Iranian filmmaker who was imprisoned by his own government only three years ago took home the top award on Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival.

Jafar Panahi received the prestigious Palme d’Or for his revenge thriller “It was Just an Accident.”

The crowd rose with thunderous applause when Cate Blanchett presented the award to Mr. Panahi. He had staged a hunger strike after Iranian officials in Tehran banned him from leaving the country.

He told the cheering audience that his priority is advocating for the freedom of his countrymen.

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

Mr. Panahi made “It Was Just an Accident” in secret without the permission of the government. It was reportedly partly inspired by his own experiences as a political prisoner. In the film, a released dissident plots revenge against a man he recognizes as one of his torturers, but later begins to question whether violence is the right answer to oppression.

“Before going to jail and before getting to know the people that I met there, and hearing their stories [and] their backgrounds, the issues I dealt with in my films were totally different,” Mr. Panahi told The Hollywood Reporter. “Spending time with these people in prison really changed something in my vision, as a director.”

• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.