IRANIAN DIRECTOR FARHADI WOWS CANNES WITH THE PAST

Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s latest film, Passé (The Past), his first film shot outside his native country, received a warm reception from the audience at the Cannes Film Festival today (Friday), where it is competing for the prestigious Palme d’Or award. His previous film, A Separation, about a couple preparing for divorce, won the best […]

IRANIAN AUTHORITIES HALT CEREMONY HONORING OSCAR WINNER

Iranian authorities have forced the cancellation of a ceremony to honor Asghar Farhadi, who won the Oscar for the best foreign language film, A Separation, last month. The victory over a slate of rivals that included one film from Israel had initially been hailed by Iranian officials as a triumph of Iranian cinema. But on […]

OSCAR FAVORITE THE ARTIST TRIUMPHS AT CESAR AWARDS

If ever there was a a foregone conclusion it was that Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist would triumph at this year’s César awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscars. And it did, winning awards from the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma for best film, director, actress (Berenice Bejo), production design (Laurence Bennett), cinematography (Guillaume Schiffman), […]

PALM SPRINGS WARMS TO FOREIGN FILMS

The 23rd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival is due to open tonight (Thursday) with a screening of the British romcom Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, starring Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor. Although the festival boasts that it presents “the largest selection of foreign language Oscar submissions of any film festival in the world,” it […]

IRANIAN FILM AWARDED TOP PRIZE IN BERLIN

The Berlin Film Festival — the Berlinale — whose jury was reduced by one member when the Iranian government imprisoned director Jafar Panahi, who was to have served on it, awarded the Golden Bear, its top prize, on Saturday to Nader and Simin: A Separation, a film by another Iranian director, Asghar Farhadi. The entire […]