Was ‘The Salesman’ Iran’s Best Choice for Oscar Submission?
The selection of filmmaker Asghar Farhadi’s film “The Salesman” as Iran’s representative in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 2017 Oscars put an end to speculation that had surrounded the question of Iran’s appropriate representative in recent weeks.
Last week, the selection committee formed by the Farabi Cinema Foundation announced its decision one week earlier than the final deadline, contrary to previous years. Despite the circulation of some opinions about the necessity of submitting films other than “The Salesman,” the committee still preferred to send Iran’s only Oscar-winning filmmaker back to the competitive stage of the Academy Awards.
The committee, composed of Poran Derakhshande, Mohammad Bozorgnia, Mohammad Heidari, Saeed Aghighi, Amirhossein Alm-ol-hoda, Shahram Mokri, Touraj Mansouri, Akbar Nabavi, and Amir Esfandiari, named four finalists one day before announcing the final decision: “Lanterns” directed by Reza Dormishian, “Standing in Dust” directed by Mohammad Hossein Mahdavian, “Nahid” directed by Ida Panahandeh, and “Daughter” directed by Reza Mirkarimi, alongside “The Salesman.” Among these films, “Standing in Dust,” which chronicles the life of Ahmad Motavassilian, a commander in the Iran-Iraq War, was considered one of the supported options by some media outlets and figures close to the government. Even Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, Iran’s Minister of Culture, had considered it an appropriate film for Oscar submission. Nevertheless, the submission committee ultimately chose “The Salesman.”
“The Salesman” gained attention from international observers and media as one of the most serious contenders in the Best Foreign Language Film category, thanks to the creator’s track record, its successful presence at the recent Cannes Film Festival, and its distribution in America by Amazon even before its official submission as Iran’s representative. Film writer and critic Houman Davudi, referring to these factors, considers “The Salesman” the best choice for competing in the 2017 Oscars:
“The criteria that exist for selecting a film for the Oscars are, in many cases, unrelated to the quality of the films themselves. The Oscars are a competition and resemble a battlefield, and every nominee that is submitted has only one goal: victory. For completely obscure films, there is a major barrier to convincing the Academy’s evaluators and voters. However, ‘The Salesman,’ by virtue of its creator’s track record, has already traversed most of this journey. Everyone is eager to watch it. In other words, those who vote at the Oscars and evaluate the quality of films have an open mind about ‘The Salesman’ and are receptive to it. A kind of positive preconception has formed in their minds. Another important matter is that this very film was highly encouraged at the Cannes Festival, which is considered a major advantage. It is even possible that besides being nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, it may receive attention in the Best Screenplay category. An occurrence that we know has happened only once before and only for Mr. Farhadi himself.”
Asghar Farhadi, after winning the Oscar five years ago for “A Separation,” also competed in the Oscar race in 2013 with “The Past,” but was unsuccessful. Now, for the third time, he is entering the Oscar arena, though some do not consider his chances very high. Mohammad Haghighat, a filmmaker and film critic residing in France, is among those experts who say that Iran, given the Oscar it has won in recent years, has little chance of winning this prize again:
“Naturally, a film that has a distributor in America and, on the other hand, has been prominent in international festivals this year receives more attention at the Oscars. But aside from that, in my opinion, since Iran won an Oscar in these recent years, I find it unlikely that another Iranian film could win an Oscar again so quickly. It is very rare for a filmmaker from countries similar to Iran to win an Oscar twice within a few years. But if it happens, so be it. However, in my view, it is extremely unlikely, just as I told Mr. Kiarostami years ago—I believe Iran will not win the Palme d’Or for a long time, and now twenty years have passed since Iran’s last Palme d’Or.”
Based on this reasoning, Mr. Haghighat argues that it would have been better to submit films from young filmmakers to the Academy. In this regard, he refers to “Lanterns” directed by Reza Dormishian.
With the submission of the Farsi-language film “Under the Shadows” directed by Babak Anvari from Britain for the Best Foreign Language Film category, this year three Iranian-origin filmmakers will compete against each other for the Oscar in this category. Besides Asghar Farhadi and Babak Anvari, Navid Mohammadi will also be present with the film “The Departure” as the representative of Afghan cinema in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
“The Salesman,” which continues to be screened with great audience reception these days in Iran, will begin its public screenings in various countries around the world from November 9 (November 30 on the Persian calendar) with a wide release in France. Amazon plans to begin the public screening of the film in America during the awards season for Oscar-hopeful films in the final days of the year.
According to this year’s Academy Awards calendar, after films are submitted by different countries, on January 17 (December 28 on the Persian calendar), the initial list of nine films will be announced, and one week later, five final nominees for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar will be unveiled. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on February 26, 2017 (February 26, 2017 at 8 a.m. Los Angeles time, or March 9 on the Persian calendar, early Monday morning Iran time) in Los Angeles.
Source: Radio Farda
