Oscar for Best Film for A Separation

This morning, the film “A Separation” (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin) produced in 2010 (1389) won its first Oscar for Best Film for Iranian cinema.

After receiving the golden Oscar statuette from Sandra Bullock, Asghar Farhadi once again mentioned the people who, before that, had described them at the Golden Globes as “peace-seekers”:

“Hello to the good people of my country. Right now, many Iranians around the world are watching us, and I imagine they are happy—not only because of this important award, or the film, or the filmmaker, but because in a time when politicians talk about war, fear, and invasion, the name of Iran has come up for its magnificent culture—an abundant and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics. I present this award with pride to the people of my land—people who respect all cultures and civilizations of the world and who are averse to hatred and hostility.”

“A Separation,” directed, written, and produced by Asghar Farhadi, and starring Leila Hatami, Peyman Moaadi, Shahab Hosseini, Maryam Zarعی, Sareh Bayat, and Sarina Farhadi; alongside the Oscar as the most prestigious award in world cinema, has won more than 50 film awards at various festivals around the world, including the Golden Globes, the Golden Bear in Berlin, and the César or the Oscar of France.

As the fifth work by Farhadi after the influential film “About Elly,” “A Separation” won praise from critics all over the world and, with sales of more than $10 million, became the highest-grossing film in the history of Iranian cinema worldwide. International critics have called this film one of the top 10 films of last year in world cinema, and some have even dubbed it the best film of 2011.

Roger Ebert, a prominent American film critic, after giving this film the top ranking, said: “ ‘A Separation’ is a masterpiece that will captivate people for decades to come.”

At this year’s Oscars, for the first time, a film from Iran was nominated in two categories: Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay. Before this, Children of Heaven, directed by Majid Majidi and released in 1996 (1375), had been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1998 Oscars, but it did not win. “A Separation” is the first film in the history of Iranian cinema to be nominated in the important category of Best Original Screenplay. The lack of strong screenplays has been one of the persistent weaknesses of our country’s cinema.

We, too, along with you, congratulate this great success to the people and Iranian cinema, and we thank Mr. Farhadi, all the actors, and everyone involved in the film, and wish them even more success.

eMJey.com