CANNES, France – Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, whose work earned the first Oscar for best foreign language film from his country, expressed profound anguish Friday regarding the thousands who died during January’s violent suppression of demonstrators and current military conflict involving Iran.
Speaking to media at the Cannes Film Festival following Thursday evening’s debut of his latest work “Parallel Tales,” the Academy Award winner shared his emotional state after a recent visit to his homeland.
“I was actually in Tehran last week, and I am still carrying the impact of these events with me,” Farhadi stated. “Both are deeply painful, and neither will ever be forgotten.”
January saw widespread anti-government demonstrations throughout Iran crushed in what became the most severe suppression in the Islamic Republic’s existence. By late February, military strikes by U.S. and Israeli forces initiated conflict with Iran that has expanded throughout the Middle East region.
The filmmaker, who has primarily resided outside Iran since 2023, expressed his distress at daily reports of civilian casualties.
Farhadi achieved historic recognition when “A Separation” captured the Oscar for best foreign language film in 2012, marking the first such honor for Iranian cinema.
Five years afterward, he claimed the same award for “The Salesman,” although he refused to attend the ceremony as a protest against travel restrictions imposed on multiple Muslim-majority nations during the initial presidency of Donald Trump.
His current project “Parallel Tales,” a French-language drama filmed in Paris starring Isabelle Huppert and Vincent Cassel, competes alongside 21 other entries for the festival’s highest honor.
