An overview of the presence of Iranian cinema in the Oscars

Theater News Base: The nomination committee of the representative of Iranian cinema to this year’s Oscar ceremony finally selected the film “Hero” directed by Asghar Farhadi as the representative of Iranian cinema to be introduced to this academy; The film, which won the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix and Farhadi’s background as an internationally acclaimed figure who has won two Academy Awards for Best Non-English Film, was not a far-fetched choice.

Meanwhile, the film “Hero” has been praised by international critics and Oscar predictions have named the film not only one of the main chances in the category of best international film, but also Farhadi’s work in the categories of best film, director and main screenplay. Known.

The big company Amazon, which is responsible for the international distribution of “Hero” in the United States, can also play an important role in the success of the representative of Iranian cinema in the 2022 Oscars.

Iranian cinema on the eve of the fifth Oscar nomination

The first appearance of Iranian cinema at the Oscars dates back to 44 years ago, and to date, Iranian films have been nominated for the final nominees for this film event four times. After the historic nomination of “Children of Heaven” in 1998 in the category of foreign language films, Asghar Farhadi was twice among the finalists for the International Oscar with his films “Rare Separation from Simin” (2011) and “Seller” (2016). The Iranian cinema was awarded the Golden Oscar.

The history of Iranian cinema at the Oscars does not end only in the category of best international film, and Asghar Farhadi was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay category in the 84th Academy Awards for “Rare Separation from Simin”. It was one of the few times that a non-English language film was nominated for a major screenplay category, but eventually that year the category award went to Woody Allen for “Midnight in Paris”.

History of Iranian cinema at the Oscars

Years ago, for the first time, the Ministry of Culture and Arts in 1977 nominated Dariush Mehrjoui’s film “Circle of Enamel” for the Oscars, and after that, the film “Bad Saba” by Albert Lamoris was nominated for the Academy Award in 1957. After a 17-year hiatus, in 1994 the film “Under the Olive Trees” directed by Abbas Kiarostami was named the representative of Iran at the 67th Academy Awards. Jafar Panahi’s “White Balloon” was introduced to the academy in 1995, and after a one-year hiatus, in 1997, Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s “Gabbeh” represented Iran at the film awards.

Majid Majidi’s “Children of the Sky” won a foreign Oscar in 1998, and the following year Majidi’s “Color of God” was nominated for the Film Award.

“A Time for Drunk Horses” by Bahman Ghobadi (2000), “Rain” by Majid Majidi (2001), “I am 15 years old” by Rasoul Sadr Ameli (2002), “Deep Breath” by Parviz Shahbazi (2003), “Turtles” “They Fly” by Bahman Ghobadi (2004), “Too Far, Too Close” directed by Reza Mirkarimi (2005), “Transit Cafe” by Kampuzia Partovi (2006), “Meem Like Mother” by Rasoul Malakalipour (2007), “Song of Sparrows” Majid Majidi (2008), “About Eli” directed by Asghar Farhadi (2009) and “Farewell to Baghdad” by Mehdi Naderi (2010) were the representatives of Iranian cinema in the following years until in 2012, Iranian cinema with the film “Rare Separation from Simin “by Asghar Farhadi was able to add this important award to its showcase of honors for the first time.

In 2014, 2015 and 2016, Asghar Farhadi’s “Past”, Reza Mirkarimi’s “Today” and Majid Majidi’s “Mohammad Rasoolullah” were nominated for an Oscar, respectively, and in 2016, Asghar Farhadi won a foreign Oscar for the second time for “Seller”.

In 2018, the film “Nafs” by Narges Abyar was the representative of Iranian cinema at the 90th Academy Awards. In 2019, the film “No Date, No Signature” made by Vahid Jalilvand had the opportunity to represent Iranian cinema in these film awards, and at the 2020 Oscars, for the first time, a documentary called “In Search of Farideh” co-produced by Azadeh Mousavi and Kourosh Ataei Sent to the Oscars.

At the 2021 Oscars, Majid Majidi’s film “Sun” was selected as the 26th representative of Iranian cinema in the category of the best international film (non-English-language) and even managed to get among the initial nominees in this category (list of 15). Majid Majidi is still a record holder in this regard by appearing six times with his works as the representative of Iran in the Oscars (Children of the Sky, Color of God, Rain, Song of Sparrows, Mohammad Rasoolullah and the Sun).