Asghar Farhadi


Asghar Farhadi is an Iranian film director and screenwriter.
Farhadi has received two Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film for his films A Separation and The Salesman, making him one of the few directors worldwide who have won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film twice. In 2012, he was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.

Early life

Farhadi was born in Homayoon Shahr, a city located in the Isfahan province near the city of Isfahan which, soon after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, was renamed to Khomeini Shahr after Ayatollah Khomeini. He is a graduate of theatre, with a BA in Dramatic Arts and MA in Stage Direction from University of Tehran and Tarbiat Modares University, respectively.

Career

Early Films

At the start of his career, Farhadi made numerous short 8mm and 16mm films in the Isfahan branch of the Iranian Young Cinema Society, before moving on to writing plays and screenplays for IRIB. He also directed such TV series as A Tale of a City and co-wrote the screenplay for Ebrahim Hatamikia's Low Heights. In 2003, Farhadi made his feature film deebut with Dancing in the Dust. He followed with The Beautiful City, released in 2004.
His third film, Fireworks Wednesday, won the Gold Hugo at the 2006 Chicago International Film Festival.

''About Elly'' (2009)

In 2009, Farhadi directed his fourth film, About Elly, won him the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 59th International Berlin Film Festival and also Best Picture at the Tribeca Film Festival. The latter film is about a group of Iranians who take a trip to the Iranian beaches of Caspian Sea that turns tragic. Film theorist and critic David Bordwell has called About Elly a masterpiece.

''A Separation'' (2011)

His film A Separation premiered on 9 February 2011 at the 29th Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran and received critical acclaim from the Iran Society of Film Critics. It earned Farhadi four awards including Best Director. On 15 February 2011, it also played in competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival, which received a Golden Bear for best film, becoming the first Iranian film to win that award. In June 2011, A Separation won the Sydney Film Prize in competition with Cannes Festival's winner The Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick. It also won the Best Film award at the 2011 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
On 19 December 2011, Farhadi was announced as being a jury member for the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, which was held in February 2012.
On 15 January 2012, A Separation won the Golden Globe for the Best Foreign Language Film. The film was also the official Iranian submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2012 Academy Awards where, in addition to being nominated in this category, it was also nominated in the Best Original Screenplay category. On 26 February 2012, A Separation became the first Iranian movie to win the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, at the 84th Academy Awards. This marked Farhadi as the first Iranian to have won an Academy Award in any of the competitive categories. He was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012, along with 175 other members. A Separation also won the César Award for Best Foreign Film and the Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film in 2012.

''The Past'' (2013)

In 2013, Farhadi's film The Past starring Bérénice Bejo and Tahar Rahim was released. This would be Farhadi's first film in the French language. The film competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Bejo won the Best Actress Award at Cannes for her performance in the film.
The film received universal critical acclaim. It holds a 93% "certified fresh" rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 144 reviews with a weighted average score of 8.2/10 and the site's consensus: "Beautifully written, sensitively directed, and powerfully acted, The Past serves as another compelling testament to Asghar Farhadi's gift for finely layered drama." On Metacritic, the film has a normalized score of 85% based on 41 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
The film was selected as the Iranian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

''The Salesman'' (2016)

His 2016 film The Salesman, starring Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti, competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. The Salesman won two Awards: Best Actor for Shahab Hosseini and Best Screenplay for Farhadi.
On 26 February 2017, Farhadi won his second Oscar for Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for The Salesman at the 89th Academy Awards. The Salesman had already won the award for the Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival. Following Donald Trump's executive order barring Iranians from entering the country, Farhadi said he would not attend the 2017 Academy Awards, despite being nominated, and then winning, for the best foreign-language film. He announced that two prominent Iranian Americans, Anousheh Ansari and Firouz Naderi would represent him in the ceremony. Anousheh Ansari is famed for being the first female space tourist and first Iranian in space, and Naderi as director of Solar Systems Exploration at NASA. A few hours before the ceremony, he addressed a group of protesters in London via a video link from Iran. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, screened the movie publicly in Trafalgar Square as a celebration of the city's diversity. "This solidarity is off to a great start," he told them. "I hope this movement will continue and spread, for it has within itself the power to stand up to fascism, be victorious in the face of extremism and say no to oppressive political powers everywhere."
After winning the Academy Award for the second time, Farhadi had a prepared statement read by Anousheh Ansari. "I'm sorry I'm not with you tonight," Farhadi's statement read. "My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of the other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S. 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 themselves have 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 that we need today more than ever." Prior to the ceremony, all five directors nominated for foreign language film issued a joint statement, obtained by USA Today, that condemned "the climate of fanaticism and nationalism" in the United States, among other countries. The directors - Farhadi, Maren Ade, Hannes Holm, Martin Zandvliet and Bentley Dean and Martin Butler - said that no matter which films wins, the Oscar is dedicated to "all the people, artists, journalists and activists who are working to foster unity and understand, and who uphold freedom of expression and human dignity - values whose protection is now more important than ever."
, Penelope Cruz, Farhadi and the cast of Everybody Knows at thee 2018 Cannes Film Festival

''Everbody Knows'' (2018)

In 2018, Farhadi directed his eighth feature film titled, Everybody Knows starring Javier Bardem, and Penelope Cruz. The film, a Spanish psycholohical thriller debuted at the 71st Cannes Film Festival where it played in competition for the Palme d'Or.
At the Toronto premiere of Everybody Knows, the director shared with Ikon London Magazine his plans to "Come to London West End with his play". He said "I know there is a lot of great plays every day. And I wish one day I do a play there. It is not far. It is our plan."
The film has earned critical acclaim earning a 78% on Rotten Tomatoes with the critics consensus reading, with critics praising the two leads, but adding that the film is below Farhadi's usually high standards.

Themes

Social and class structures

Farhadi's films present a microcosm of modern Iran and explore the inevitable complications that arise via class, gender, and religious differences. For example, his 2011 film A Separation portrays various intractable conflicts and arguments that force the characters to reflect on the moral grounds of their own decisions.
In her article, "Through the Looking Glass: Reflexive Cinema and Society in Post-Revolution Iran," Norma Claire Moruzzi writes:
The film critic Roger Ebert in his Movie Yearbook 2013 writes this about Farhadi's craft depicting social relations:
In the introduction to her 2014 book Asghar Farhadi: Life and Cinema, film critic Tina Hassannia writes:
In Farhadi's films, Iran is depicted as having a rigid class system that endures across the history of pre- and post-revolutionary Iran. Farhadi films the complexities of everyday life in contemporary Iran, with a particular focus on the ways in which diverse perspectives are embedded within social structures such as class and gender.

Cultural norms

Farhadi's films frequently criticize divisions in Iranian society along class, gender and religious lines. However, they are notable for their subtlety of treatment. Farhadi himself has never rejected Iran, most of his films are deeply rooted in urban Iranian society, and he has frequently expressed his commitment to the country and its people, most notably on the two occasions when he won the Academy Award. When he picked up the award for A Separation, he dedicated the win to the Iranian nation. When The Salesman won the prize a few years later, Farhadi declined to attend the event in protest at the policies of the American administration.
What is less noticed is his veiled criticism of religious standards in Iran. His debut feature Dancing in the Dust opens with the Islamic invocation Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim just as a hand cleans a car window to reveal a large statue of a man, situated on a pedestal in a street. Idolatry is forbidden in Islam, and the construction of human statues likewise discouraged in strict interpretations. For his second film, Beautiful City, Farhadi repeated a similar cinematic trick; as a prison microphone blares out the Bismillah phrase, it is revealed that a young man is carving human figurines. Neither film has been released in the West, and they have not been seen as widely as his latter films.

Influences

In 2012, Farhadi participated in the Sight & Sound film polls of that year. Held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time, contemporary directors were asked to select ten films of their choice. Farhadi's choices are listed below, in alphabetical order:

Feature films

Producer Only

Awards and nominations

Farhadi is one of a select list of directors who have won the Best Foreign Film Oscar more than once. The others are Vittorio de Sica and Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, and Rene Clement and Akira Kurosawa. The following is a selection of his major awards.
A Separation won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2012, becoming the first Iranian film to win the award. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
The Salesman won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2017. However, Farhadi did not attend the 89th Academy Awards ceremony in protest of the U.S. Executive Order 13769.
YearAwardCategoryNominated workResult
2003Fajr International Film FestivalSpecial Jury AwardDancing in the Dust
2003Asia Pacific Film FestivalBest DirectorDancing in the Dust
2003Asia Pacific Film FestivalBest ScreenplayDancing in the Dust
2004Warsaw International Film FestivalGrand PrixThe Beautiful City
2004International Film Festival of IndiaGolden PeacockThe Beautiful City
2005Tromsø International Film FestivalNorwegian Peace Film AwardThe Beautiful City
2005Split Film FestivalFIPRESCI PrizeThe Beautiful City
2006Fajr International Film FestivalCrystal Simorgh Fireworks Wednesday
2006Chicago International Film FestivalGold HugoFireworks Wednesday
2007Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Film FestivalGolden Lady HarimaguadaFireworks Wednesday
2009Berlin International Film FestivalSilver BearAbout Elly
2009Fajr International Film FestivalBest DirectorAbout Elly
2009Fajr International Film FestivalAudience ChoiceAbout Elly
2009Tribeca Film FestivalBest Narrative FeatureAbout Elly
2009International Film Festival of KeralaGolden Crow PheasantAbout Elly
2009Asia Pacific Screen AwardsBest ScreenplayAbout Elly
2009Asia Pacific Screen AwardsJury Grand PrizeAbout Elly
2009Brisbane International Film FestivalNetpac AwardAbout Elly
2011Academy AwardBest Foreign Language FilmA Separation
2011Golden Globe AwardBest Foreign Language FilmA Separation
2011César AwardBest Foreign FilmA Separation
2011Independent Spirit AwardBest International FilmA Separation
2011British Independent Film AwardBest Foreign Independent FilmA Separation
2011Berlin International Film FestivalGolden BearA Separation
2011Berlin International Film FestivalReader JuryA Separation
2011Berlin International Film FestivalPrize of the Ecumenical JuryA Separation
2011Asia Pacific Screen AwardsBest Film AwardA Separation
2011Fajr International Film FestivalBest DirectorA Separation
2011Fajr International Film FestivalBest ScreenplayA Separation
2011Fajr International Film FestivalAudience AwardA Separation
2011Bodil AwardBest Non-American FilmA Separation
2013Cannes Film FestivalPalme d'OrThe Past
2013Cannes Film FestivalPrize of the Ecumenical JuryThe Past
2016Cannes Film FestivalPalme d'OrThe Salesman
2016Cannes Film FestivalBest Screenplay AwardThe Salesman
2017Academy AwardBest Foreign Language FilmThe Salesman
2018Cannes Film FestivalPalme d'OrEverybody Knows

Honors