Despite the fact his film The Salesman was nominated for Best Foreign-Language Film, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi snubbed this year’s Academy Awards in protest of U.S. President Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting seven majority-Muslim nations.
His protest has now been magnified immeasurably, ’cause The Salesman just won the thing.
Representing Farhadi, Iranian-American engineer and former astronaut Anousheh Ansari took to the stage. She read a statement from the auteur, which concisely summed up his decision to remain out of the states:
“I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight. My absence is out of respect for the people of my country, and those of the other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S.”
Ansari was paused by applause, and echoed Farhadi’s sentiment that “dividing the world into the “us” and “our enemies” categories create fear.
“A deceitful justification for our aggression and war. These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which have themselves been victims of aggression.”
It wasn’t the first political statement of the Awards and it won’t be the last, but it did directly demonstrate the irrationality of Trump’s ban. Check it out below:
#Oscars: Iran’s ‘The Salesman’ wins, filmmaker sends statement slamming Trump’s “inhumane” travel ban https://t.co/gy5GoysJ6l pic.twitter.com/ouFb58xAIs
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 27, 2017
Photo: Kevin Winter / Getty.
