“In today’s chaotic, insecure and dark world, it is altruism, pacifism and a shining light which bring freedom-seeking people together, and you [Asghar Farhadi] were successful in using the expressive language of the arts to convey the peaceful message of Iran and the Iranians beyond geographical borders,” Iranian Minister of Culture Reza Salehi Amiri said in his message to Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi for winning his second Oscar for ‘The Salesman’.
“Your symbolic absence at the Academy Awards as a protest against the shortsighted and racist policies of America’s novice politicians against refugees brought together many with a good conscience together and removed the mask from the false faces of those so-called defenders of human rights, at the same time as it displayed to the world the true, culture-loving image of the Iranians,” he added.
He went on to stress, “as of today, the world acknowledges that the ‘Iranophobia’ project was nothing but a deceit, and you managed to tie the Iranian outlook of contemporary ills of humanity with the shared outlook of the whole world.”
“Your message today was the message of sympathy, empathy and solidarity,” he said.
“No doubt, Iranian Cinema with its major share in promoting and fostering culture and national security, can make great use of such opportunities to introduce the Iranian arts on an international level,” he concluded.
Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi won his second Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards on Sunday. Following US President Trump’s now frozen executive order barring nationals of seven countries including Iran from entering the US, Farhadi announced that he would not attend the Academy Awards as a sign of protest against the inhumane measure. Iranian former NASA director Firouz Naderi and Iranian-American engineer Anousheh Ansari, who also happens to be the first Iranian to go into space, accepted the award on Fahadi’s behalf.
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