The movie ”The Salesman” has won Best Foreign Language film at this year's Oscars, winning a second award for Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi. Farhadi won his first Oscar in 2012 when his film “A Separation” became the first Iranian film to win this prestigious award. As an act of protest against President Trump’s executive order banning people from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States, Iranian Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi wasn’t at the ceremony to accept the award. Instead of Farhadi giving a speech, Anousheh Ansari — Iranian-American engineer and the first Iranian to go to space — accepted the award and read a statement from him:
“It's a great honor to be receiving this valuable award for the second time. I would like to thank the members of the academy, my crew in Iran, my producer, Amazon, and my fellow nominees. I'm sorry I'm not with you tonight. My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations whom have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the US. Dividing the world into the “us" and "our enemies" categories creates fear. A deceitful justification for aggression and war. These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which have themselves been victims of aggression. Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others. An empathy which we need today more than ever.”
Farhadi’s statement together with the joint statement of all directors of the Oscar-nominated foreign-language films, expressed deep disappointment with “the climate of fanaticism and nationalism we see today in the U.S.” Five directors from Denmark, Sweden, Iran, Germany and Australia, all nominated for The Best Foreign Language Film, have written in the joint statement: “Regardless of who wins the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film on Sunday, we refuse to think in terms of borders. We believe there is not best country, best gender, best religion or best color. We want this award to stand as a symbol of the unity between nations and the freedom of the arts.”
Photo Credits: Indiewire
