This Oscar-nominated filmmaker wants to go back to Iran. Even if prison and war await.

Iranian director Jafar Panahi has been confronted with a strange task in recent weeks: promoting his Oscar-nominated movie as his home country erupts in unrest and war.“On the surface, I am in a celebration,” Panahi said, speaking through a translator over Zoom from New York on Tuesday morning.

Iranian director Jafar Panahi has been confronted with a strange task in recent weeks: promoting his Oscar-nominated movie as his home country erupts in unrest and war.

“On the surface, I am in a celebration,” Panahi said, speaking through a translator over Zoom from New York on Tuesday morning. “But from the inside, I feel differently.”

Panahi, 65, secretly shot “It Was Just An Accident” in Iran, where authorities oversee the media and filmmakers must get their scripts approved to get film permits. The film, a revenge drama shaped by his time in the notoriously cruel Evin Prison in Tehran, is nominated in the best original screenplay and international film categories for the upcoming Oscars.

The filmmaker has been eager to share “It Was Just An Accident” with audiences, saying he considers himself “like a witness” for the events in Iran. But, he said, “when we accepted to have this campaign for the film, we never thought about these days.”

The awards season has been anything but glamorous for Panahi, whose mother and son live in Iran. He has spent months on the road promoting his film, while also struggling to absorb the fast-moving news that directly impacts his life.