There was much chatter at Cannes concerning the Iranian authorities’ detention of distinguished film-maker Jafar Panahi.

At the awards ceremony on Sunday, Juliette Binoche, winner of best actress for fellow Iranian Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy, held up a sign bearing Panahi’s name. Perhaps star-power matters. A few days after the prize-giving, the Iranians announced that the director, a supporter of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, was to be released on bail. Panahi, who had been on hunger strike, still fights to clear his name.