Iranian cinema shines in Cannes; Best Actor and Best Screenplay Awards

Iranian cinema, in an unprecedented brilliance, won the Best Actor and Best Screenplay awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

Shahab Hosseini won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival, and Asghar Farhadi, director of The Salesman, received the Best Screenplay award.

After winning the Best Actor award, Shahab Hosseini dedicated it to the people of Iran:

“This award came from my people in a way, so I am returning it to them. I dedicate this award from the bottom of my heart and with love to the people of my land.”

Mr. Farhadi also participated in the main competition section of Cannes in 2013 with the film "The Past," in which Bérénice Bejou received the Best Actress award for her performance.

He also won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film for his film Nader and Simin's Separation in 2012.

In Asghar Farhadi's new film "The Salesman," which is a joint Iranian-French production, Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti are the main actors.

It is said that the film The Salesman was submitted to the Cannes Film Festival late, but the festival officials accepted the film.

The film deals with the relationship between a married couple named Rana and Emad (played by Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti) who are performing in Arthur Miller's play "Death of a Salesman."

On the eve of the play's opening night, the weak infrastructure of the residential building they live in becomes a problem, and they are forced to evacuate it and temporarily move to another building owned by their co-star in the play, Babak (played by Babak Karimi).

An incident occurs in Rana's new home that unintentionally causes tension and irritation in the couple's relationship.

Loretta Gandolfi, a film researcher at the University of Cambridge, told BBC Persian: “The film has a special nuance in comparing the world of the show with the real world of the couple (when you see the film, for example, look at the empty seats on the stage and the equivalent in the couple’s apartment). Overall, I think it’s a strong film, but in some places, like the middle section, it loses focus. Nevertheless, people in the theater warmly welcomed it.”

This year's Palme d'Or also went to British director Ken Loach for the film "Here, Daniel Blake."

This is the director's second Palme d'Or, having previously won the award in 2006 for The Winds That Shake the Barley Stalks.

The film is an attack on the “dangerous project of austerity measures” through the life of a middle-aged man and the British social security system.

The film "American Honey" by British director Andrea Arnold also won the festival's Jury Prize.