Directed by Vahid Jalilvand, ‘No Date, No Signature’ recently raked in awards at the 20th Iran Cinema Celebration, including Best Director, Best Film, Best Script, and Best Supporting Actress and Actor awards.
The drama narrates the story of a forensic pathologist Dr. Kaveh Nariman (played by Amir Aghaei), a principled and virtuous man, who gets involved in an accident and faces a dilemma of whether he is responsible for the death of a child or if the cause of death is unrelated to his doing.
The panel in charge of selecting Iran’s submission to the Oscars said in a statement that while the notion of boycotting the Academy Awards was even stronger this year due to the US’ reinstatement of unjust sanctions against the Iranian people, the Academy is a non-governmental institution which belongs to everyone working in cinema and the film industry all across the world. The statement further maintained that the participation of Iran’s cinema in the event would be a good opportunity to promote relations among nations, make an impact on public opinion, and inevitably, increase the pressure on the US government.
The panel stated that ‘No Date, No Signature’ has been deemed fit to represent Iran’s cinema at the Academy Awards due to its positive international feedback and the efforts of its distributor at the time of its screening in the US which had helped the movie to get enough recognition.
Some of the movie’s international awards include: Best Director and Best Actor Award for Navid Mohammadzadeh at the Venice Horizons sections of the 74th Venice Film Festival; Best Film Award at the Brussels International Film Festival; Best Director at Russia’s Mirror International Film Festival; Audience Award and Best Actor Award at the 18th Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival in Spain; and Grand Prize of 2017 Chicago International Film Festival.
Iran won the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2017 for ‘The Salesman’ and in 2012 for ‘A Separation’, both of which directed by acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi.
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