Nader and Simin, A Separation
Encyclopedia
A Separation is a 2011 Iranian drama film written and directed by Asghar Farhadi
, starring Leila Hatami
, Peyman Moaadi, Shahab Hosseini
, Sareh Bayat and Sarina Farhadi. It focuses on an Iranian middle-class couple who separate, and the intrigues which follow when the husband hires a lower-class caretaker for his elderly father. The film received the Golden Bear
for Best Film and the Silver Bears for Best Actress
and Best Actor
at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival
, becoming the first Iranian film to win the Golden Bear. The film is the official Iranian candidate for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards
.
. The family belongs to the urban upper middle-class and the couple are on the verge of separation. Simin wants to leave the country with her husband and daughter, as she does not want Termeh to grow up under the prevailing conditions. This desire is not shared by Nader. He is concerned for his elderly father, who lives with the family and suffers from Alzheimer's disease
. When Nader firmly decides to stay in Iran, Simin files for divorce.
The family court judges the couple's problems not to be grave enough to warrant divorce and rejects Simin's application. Simin then leaves her husband and daughter and moves back in with her parents. On the recommendations of his wife, Nader hires Razieh, a young, pregnant and deeply religious woman from a poor suburb, to take care of his father while he works at a bank. Razieh has applied for the job without consulting her hot-tempered husband Houjat, whose approval, according to tradition, would have been required. Her family is, however, financially dependent on the work, and she takes her daughter to the house with her.
Razieh soon becomes overwhelmed by taking care of Nader's father. On the first day of work, she finds that the old man is incontinent and she phones someone to ask if it would be a sin for her to clean him. Assured that it would be acceptable, she continues in the job, but later hopes to get her husband into the position, without revealing that she herself had worked there initially. Nader interviews Houjat and hires him, but Houjat, who is heavily in debt, is put in jail by his creditors on the day he is due to start - and so Razieh returns to work for Nader.
Whilst Razieh is cleaning, Nader's father wanders out of the apartment. Razieh runs to find him, and sees him from across a busy road, peering down at a newstand. (Although we do not see what happens after Razieh has seen him, later on in the film, we learn that Razieh is hit by a car in an attempt to protect Nader's father from being hit).
The next day, Nader and Termeh return to an empty house. Termeh discovers her grandfather lying unconscious on the floor in his bedroom, with one of his arms tied to the bed. When Razieh returns, an argument ensues between her and Nader, and he throws her out of the apartment, and accuses her of having stolen money from his room (unbeknownst to Nader, Simin was actually shown taking the money in an earlier scene to pay movers). Razieh returns to protest her innocence, and to request her payment for the day's work. Outraged, Nader shoves Razieh out of the apartment. She falls in the stairwell and hurries out of the building. Houjat's sister later calls Simin to inform her that Razieh has suffered a miscarriage
and is in hospital.
A court is assigned to determine the cause of the miscarriage and Nader's potential responsibility for it. If it is proved that Nader had knowledge of Razieh's pregnancy and caused the miscarriage by his actions, he will be sentenced to one to three years imprisonment, and much of the film revolves around this issue. Nader accuses Razieh of neglecting his father. The hot-headed and aggressive Houjat physically confronts Nader on several occasions, and threatens him, his family, and Termeh's teacher, who testifies on Nader's behalf. Nader learns from Razieh's young daughter that the reason she was absent the day Nader came home early was because she had gone with Razieh to see a doctor, something that Razieh was adamant about not revealing earlier. This, combined with Houjat's explosive temper causes Nader to wonder if perhaps Houjat is physically abusive to Razieh and possibly the cause of her miscarriage.
Termeh protects her father with a false statement and Simin attempts to arrange a financial deal with Razieh and Houjat, to compensate them for the loss of their unborn child. Nader is initially outraged by Simin's suggestion that they pay off Razieh and Houjat, as Nader feels that it would be a shameful admission of guilt. The morality of all of the characters are called into question as it is revealed that Nader did indeed lie about his knowledge of Razieh's pregnancy, and that Razieh has serious doubts as to whether Nader's actions caused her miscarriage, as she had been hit by a car the day before.
Eventually, everyone--including Houjat's debtors--meets at the home of Razieh and Houjat to consummate the payment. Nader, still wary about the true cause of Razieh's miscarriage (but not knowing about her being struck by a car) writes the cheques and slyly says he will give them to Houjat, under the condition that Razieh swears on the Qur'an
that his actions were the cause of her miscarriage. Despite Houjat's desperate urgings, she cannot bring herself to do it, as she believes it will be a sin, and worries about it backfiring and affecting their daughter. Totally dejected, Houjat breaks down, hits himself violently and storms out of his home -- the money is not paid.
Back at the family court, Nader and Simin's separation is made permanent and Termeh is asked to decide whether she wants to live with her mother or her father. Termeh tearfully says that she has made a decision, but requests that the judge ask her parents to wait outside in the hallway before revealing it. Nader and Simin are shown waiting silently and separately in the hallway, and the credits roll before the audience learns of Termeh's decision.
's mind for some time. Once he decided to make the film, about a year before it premiered, it was quickly written and financed. Farhadi described the film as the "logical development" from his previous film, About Elly
. Like Farhadi's last three films, A Separation was made without any government support. The financing went without trouble much thanks to the success of About Elly. The production was granted 25,000 US dollars in support from the Motion Picture Association
's APSA
Academy Film Fund.
In September 2010, Farhadi was banned from making the film by the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance
, because of an acceptance speech held during an award ceremony where he expressed support for several Iranian film personalities. Notably he had wished to see the return to Iranian cinema by Mohsen Makhmalbaf
, an exiled filmmaker and Iranian opposition profile, and the imprisoned political filmmaker Jafar Panahi
, both of whom had been connected to the Iranian Green Movement. The ban was lifted in the beginning of October after Farhadi claimed to have been misperceived and apologized for his remarks.
in Tehran. Six days later it played in Competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival
. Farhadi had previously competed at the festival's 2009 edition
with About Elly, for which he had received the Silver Bear for Best Director
. A Separation will be distributed in Iran through Filmiran. Distribution rights for the United Kingdom were acquired by Artificial Eye
.
wrote from the Berlinale: "Just when it seemed impossible for Iranian filmmakers to express themselves meaningfully outside the bounds of censorship, Asghar Farhadi's Nader and Simin, A Separation comes along to prove the contrary. Apparently simple on a narrative level yet morally, psychologically and socially complex, it succeeds in bringing Iranian society into focus for in a way few other films have done." Young held forward how Farhadi portrayed Iran's social and religious divisions and complimented the film's craft: "As in all the director's work, the cast is given top consideration and their realistic acting results in unusual depth of characterization. All five main actors stand out sharply in Mahmood Kalari's intimate cinematography. Though the film lasts over two hours, Hayedeh Safiyari's fast-moving editing keeps the action tensely involving from start to finish."
In a hugely positive review from Screen Daily, Lee Marshall wrote: "Showing a control of investigative pacing that recalls classic Hitchcock and a feel for ethical nuance that is all his own, Farhadi has hit upon a story that is not only about men and women, children and parents, justice and religion in today’s Iran, but that raises complex and globally relevant questions of responsibility, of the subjectivity and contingency of ‘telling the truth’, and of how thin the line can be between inflexibility and pride - especially of the male variety - and selfishness and tyranny."
Alissa Simon from Variety
called it Farhadi's strongest work yet and described it: "Tense and narratively complex, formally dense and morally challenging... The provocative plot casts a revealing light on contempo Iranian society, taking on issues of gender, class, justice and honor as a secular middle-class family in the midst of upheaval winds up in conflict with an impoverished religious one."
The film won the Fajr Film Festival's Crystal Simorgh
s for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematographer and Best Sound Recorder. It also received the Audience Favourite Film award. It won the top award, the Golden Bear
for Best Film, at the Berlinale Film Festival. The actress ensemble received the Silver Bear for Best Actress
, and the actor ensemble the Silver Bear for Best Actor
. In addition it received the Competition Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the Berliner Morgenpost
Readers' Prize. Isabella Rossellini
, the Jury president of the Berlinale Festival, said that the choice of Farhadi's film for the Golden Bear was "pretty unanimous." Farhadi commented that he never would have thought he would win the Golden Bear, and that the film's victory offered "a very good opportunity to think of the people of my country, the country I grew up in, the country where I learned my stories - a great people". Ahmad Miralaii, the director of Iran's Farabi Cinematic Foundation, said that "Iranian cinema is proud of the awards", as he welcomed Farhadi at the airport upon the director's return from Berlin.
Asghar Farhadi
-Career:Asghar Farhadi is a graduate of Theatre, with a BA in Dramatic Arts and MA in Stage Direction from Tehran University and Tarbiat Modarres University. Farhadi made short 8mm and 16mm films in Isfahan branch of Iranian Young Cinema Society before moving on to writing plays and screenplays for...
, starring Leila Hatami
Leila Hatami
Leila Hatami is an award-winning Iranian actress. She is the daughter of director Ali Hatami and actress Zari Khoshkam, and is married to actor Ali Mosaffa.- Biography :...
, Peyman Moaadi, Shahab Hosseini
Shahab Hosseini
-Early life:Shahab Hosseini was born on 3 February 1974 in Mirdamad, Tehran. Once a psychology student at the University of Tehran, he dropped out to emigrate to Canada. Instead, he ended up as a radio host in Iran. This was followed by hosting a TV show for the youth audience and some small acting...
, Sareh Bayat and Sarina Farhadi. It focuses on an Iranian middle-class couple who separate, and the intrigues which follow when the husband hires a lower-class caretaker for his elderly father. The film received the Golden Bear
Golden Bear
According to legend, the Golden Bear was a large golden Ursus arctos. Members of the Ursus arctos species can reach masses of . The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear....
for Best Film and the Silver Bears for Best Actress
Silver Bear for Best Actress
The Silver Bear for Best Actress is the Berlin International Film Festival's award for achievement in performance by an actress.-Awards:- External links :*...
and Best Actor
Silver Bear for Best Actor
The Silver Bear for Best Actor is the Berlin International Film Festival's award for achievement in performance by an actor.- Awards :- External links :*...
at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival
61st Berlin International Film Festival
The 61st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 10 to February 20, 2011, with actress Isabella Rossellini as the President of the Jury. The Coen Brothers film True Grit opened the festival. 300,000 tickets were sold in total during the event, to 20,000 attendees from 116...
, becoming the first Iranian film to win the Golden Bear. The film is the official Iranian candidate for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
.
Plot
Nader and Simin have been married for fourteen years and live with their eleven-year-old daughter Termeh in TehranTehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
. The family belongs to the urban upper middle-class and the couple are on the verge of separation. Simin wants to leave the country with her husband and daughter, as she does not want Termeh to grow up under the prevailing conditions. This desire is not shared by Nader. He is concerned for his elderly father, who lives with the family and suffers from Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
. When Nader firmly decides to stay in Iran, Simin files for divorce.
The family court judges the couple's problems not to be grave enough to warrant divorce and rejects Simin's application. Simin then leaves her husband and daughter and moves back in with her parents. On the recommendations of his wife, Nader hires Razieh, a young, pregnant and deeply religious woman from a poor suburb, to take care of his father while he works at a bank. Razieh has applied for the job without consulting her hot-tempered husband Houjat, whose approval, according to tradition, would have been required. Her family is, however, financially dependent on the work, and she takes her daughter to the house with her.
Razieh soon becomes overwhelmed by taking care of Nader's father. On the first day of work, she finds that the old man is incontinent and she phones someone to ask if it would be a sin for her to clean him. Assured that it would be acceptable, she continues in the job, but later hopes to get her husband into the position, without revealing that she herself had worked there initially. Nader interviews Houjat and hires him, but Houjat, who is heavily in debt, is put in jail by his creditors on the day he is due to start - and so Razieh returns to work for Nader.
Whilst Razieh is cleaning, Nader's father wanders out of the apartment. Razieh runs to find him, and sees him from across a busy road, peering down at a newstand. (Although we do not see what happens after Razieh has seen him, later on in the film, we learn that Razieh is hit by a car in an attempt to protect Nader's father from being hit).
The next day, Nader and Termeh return to an empty house. Termeh discovers her grandfather lying unconscious on the floor in his bedroom, with one of his arms tied to the bed. When Razieh returns, an argument ensues between her and Nader, and he throws her out of the apartment, and accuses her of having stolen money from his room (unbeknownst to Nader, Simin was actually shown taking the money in an earlier scene to pay movers). Razieh returns to protest her innocence, and to request her payment for the day's work. Outraged, Nader shoves Razieh out of the apartment. She falls in the stairwell and hurries out of the building. Houjat's sister later calls Simin to inform her that Razieh has suffered a miscarriage
Miscarriage
Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...
and is in hospital.
A court is assigned to determine the cause of the miscarriage and Nader's potential responsibility for it. If it is proved that Nader had knowledge of Razieh's pregnancy and caused the miscarriage by his actions, he will be sentenced to one to three years imprisonment, and much of the film revolves around this issue. Nader accuses Razieh of neglecting his father. The hot-headed and aggressive Houjat physically confronts Nader on several occasions, and threatens him, his family, and Termeh's teacher, who testifies on Nader's behalf. Nader learns from Razieh's young daughter that the reason she was absent the day Nader came home early was because she had gone with Razieh to see a doctor, something that Razieh was adamant about not revealing earlier. This, combined with Houjat's explosive temper causes Nader to wonder if perhaps Houjat is physically abusive to Razieh and possibly the cause of her miscarriage.
Termeh protects her father with a false statement and Simin attempts to arrange a financial deal with Razieh and Houjat, to compensate them for the loss of their unborn child. Nader is initially outraged by Simin's suggestion that they pay off Razieh and Houjat, as Nader feels that it would be a shameful admission of guilt. The morality of all of the characters are called into question as it is revealed that Nader did indeed lie about his knowledge of Razieh's pregnancy, and that Razieh has serious doubts as to whether Nader's actions caused her miscarriage, as she had been hit by a car the day before.
Eventually, everyone--including Houjat's debtors--meets at the home of Razieh and Houjat to consummate the payment. Nader, still wary about the true cause of Razieh's miscarriage (but not knowing about her being struck by a car) writes the cheques and slyly says he will give them to Houjat, under the condition that Razieh swears on the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
that his actions were the cause of her miscarriage. Despite Houjat's desperate urgings, she cannot bring herself to do it, as she believes it will be a sin, and worries about it backfiring and affecting their daughter. Totally dejected, Houjat breaks down, hits himself violently and storms out of his home -- the money is not paid.
Back at the family court, Nader and Simin's separation is made permanent and Termeh is asked to decide whether she wants to live with her mother or her father. Termeh tearfully says that she has made a decision, but requests that the judge ask her parents to wait outside in the hallway before revealing it. Nader and Simin are shown waiting silently and separately in the hallway, and the credits roll before the audience learns of Termeh's decision.
Cast
- Leila HatamiLeila HatamiLeila Hatami is an award-winning Iranian actress. She is the daughter of director Ali Hatami and actress Zari Khoshkam, and is married to actor Ali Mosaffa.- Biography :...
as Simin - Peyman Moaadi as Naader
- Shahab HosseiniShahab Hosseini-Early life:Shahab Hosseini was born on 3 February 1974 in Mirdamad, Tehran. Once a psychology student at the University of Tehran, he dropped out to emigrate to Canada. Instead, he ended up as a radio host in Iran. This was followed by hosting a TV show for the youth audience and some small acting...
as Houjat - Sareh Bayat as Razieh
- Sarina Farhadi as Termeh
- Ali-Asghar Shahbazi as Nader's father
- Shirin Yazdanbakhsh as Simin's mother
- Kimia Hosseini as Somayeh
- Merila ZareiMerila Zarei- Biography :Graduated from Azad University of Tehran, during her studies she became interested in acting through Ezatollah Entezami's acting courses.Her first movie was Patak by Ali Asghar Shadravan in 1994...
as Miss Ghahraei
Production
The concept of the film came from a number of personal experiences and abstract pictures which had been in Asghar FarhadiAsghar Farhadi
-Career:Asghar Farhadi is a graduate of Theatre, with a BA in Dramatic Arts and MA in Stage Direction from Tehran University and Tarbiat Modarres University. Farhadi made short 8mm and 16mm films in Isfahan branch of Iranian Young Cinema Society before moving on to writing plays and screenplays for...
's mind for some time. Once he decided to make the film, about a year before it premiered, it was quickly written and financed. Farhadi described the film as the "logical development" from his previous film, About Elly
About Elly
About Elly is a 2009 Iranian film directed by Asghar Farhadi. It is the fourth film by Farhadi. The film is about the relationship among some middle class families in Iran....
. Like Farhadi's last three films, A Separation was made without any government support. The financing went without trouble much thanks to the success of About Elly. The production was granted 25,000 US dollars in support from the Motion Picture Association
Motion Picture Association
The Motion Picture Association is the international counterpart of the Motion Picture Association of America.-History:The MPA starting out as the Motion Picture Association of America was started in 1922, as a trade organization for American Film industry...
's APSA
Asia Pacific Screen Awards
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is an international cultural initiative of the State Government of Queensland, Australia, through Events Queensland, to honour and promote the films, actors, directors, and cultures of Asia-Pacific to a global audience and to realise the objectives of UNESCO to...
Academy Film Fund.
In September 2010, Farhadi was banned from making the film by the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance
Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance
The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance is the ministry of Culture of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is responsible for restricting access to any media of which the Islamic Regime in Tehran does not approve....
, because of an acceptance speech held during an award ceremony where he expressed support for several Iranian film personalities. Notably he had wished to see the return to Iranian cinema by Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Mohsen Makhmalbaf is an Iranian film director, writer, editor, and producer. During 2007 he was the president of Asian Film Academy.Makhmalbaf's films have been widely presented in international film festivals in the past ten years. The multi-award-winning director, belongs to the new wave...
, an exiled filmmaker and Iranian opposition profile, and the imprisoned political filmmaker Jafar Panahi
Jafar Panahi
Jafar Panahi is an Iranian filmmaker and is one of the most influential filmmakers in the Iranian New Wave movement. He has gained recognition from film theorists and critics worldwide and received numerous awards including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Silver Bear at the...
, both of whom had been connected to the Iranian Green Movement. The ban was lifted in the beginning of October after Farhadi claimed to have been misperceived and apologized for his remarks.
Release
The film premiered on 9 February 2011 at the 29th Fajr International Film FestivalFajr International Film Festival
The Fajr Film Festival or Fajr International Film Festival is Iran's annual film festival, held every February in Tehran.The festival, started in 1982, is under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture in Iran...
in Tehran. Six days later it played in Competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival
61st Berlin International Film Festival
The 61st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 10 to February 20, 2011, with actress Isabella Rossellini as the President of the Jury. The Coen Brothers film True Grit opened the festival. 300,000 tickets were sold in total during the event, to 20,000 attendees from 116...
. Farhadi had previously competed at the festival's 2009 edition
59th Berlin International Film Festival
The 59th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 February to 15 February 2009. The opening film of this year's festival was Tom Tykwer’s The International, screened out of competition...
with About Elly, for which he had received the Silver Bear for Best Director
Silver Bear for Best Director
The Silver Bear for Best Director is the Berlin International Film Festival's award for best achievement in direction.-Awards:-Repeated winners:*Mario Monicelli *Satyajit Ray *Carlos Saura -External links:*...
. A Separation will be distributed in Iran through Filmiran. Distribution rights for the United Kingdom were acquired by Artificial Eye
Artificial eye
Artificial eye may refer to:* Visual prosthesis, functioning implant designed to restore sight* Ocular prosthesis, non-functioning cosmetic replacement for a lost eye...
.
Reception
Deborah Young of The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
wrote from the Berlinale: "Just when it seemed impossible for Iranian filmmakers to express themselves meaningfully outside the bounds of censorship, Asghar Farhadi's Nader and Simin, A Separation comes along to prove the contrary. Apparently simple on a narrative level yet morally, psychologically and socially complex, it succeeds in bringing Iranian society into focus for in a way few other films have done." Young held forward how Farhadi portrayed Iran's social and religious divisions and complimented the film's craft: "As in all the director's work, the cast is given top consideration and their realistic acting results in unusual depth of characterization. All five main actors stand out sharply in Mahmood Kalari's intimate cinematography. Though the film lasts over two hours, Hayedeh Safiyari's fast-moving editing keeps the action tensely involving from start to finish."
In a hugely positive review from Screen Daily, Lee Marshall wrote: "Showing a control of investigative pacing that recalls classic Hitchcock and a feel for ethical nuance that is all his own, Farhadi has hit upon a story that is not only about men and women, children and parents, justice and religion in today’s Iran, but that raises complex and globally relevant questions of responsibility, of the subjectivity and contingency of ‘telling the truth’, and of how thin the line can be between inflexibility and pride - especially of the male variety - and selfishness and tyranny."
Alissa Simon from Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
called it Farhadi's strongest work yet and described it: "Tense and narratively complex, formally dense and morally challenging... The provocative plot casts a revealing light on contempo Iranian society, taking on issues of gender, class, justice and honor as a secular middle-class family in the midst of upheaval winds up in conflict with an impoverished religious one."
The film won the Fajr Film Festival's Crystal Simorgh
Crystal Simorgh
The Crystal Simorgh is the most prestigious award given by Fajr International Film Festival, Iran's major annual film festival.It is awarded in several categories of International Competition as well as Iranian Cinema Competition....
s for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematographer and Best Sound Recorder. It also received the Audience Favourite Film award. It won the top award, the Golden Bear
Golden Bear
According to legend, the Golden Bear was a large golden Ursus arctos. Members of the Ursus arctos species can reach masses of . The Grizzly Bear and the Kodiak Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear....
for Best Film, at the Berlinale Film Festival. The actress ensemble received the Silver Bear for Best Actress
Silver Bear for Best Actress
The Silver Bear for Best Actress is the Berlin International Film Festival's award for achievement in performance by an actress.-Awards:- External links :*...
, and the actor ensemble the Silver Bear for Best Actor
Silver Bear for Best Actor
The Silver Bear for Best Actor is the Berlin International Film Festival's award for achievement in performance by an actor.- Awards :- External links :*...
. In addition it received the Competition Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the Berliner Morgenpost
Berliner Morgenpost
Berliner Morgenpost is a German newspaper, based and mainly read in Berlin, where it is the second most read daily newspaper. Founded in 1898 by Leopold Ullstein, it was taken over by Axel Springer AG in 1959. The paper had a circulation of 145,556 issues in 2009, with an estimated 322,000 readers...
Readers' Prize. Isabella Rossellini
Isabella Rossellini
Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini is an Italian actress, filmmaker, author, philanthropist, and model. Rossellini is noted for her 14-year tenure as a Lancôme model, and for her roles in films such as Blue Velvet and Death Becomes Her.-Background and early life:Rossellini is a...
, the Jury president of the Berlinale Festival, said that the choice of Farhadi's film for the Golden Bear was "pretty unanimous." Farhadi commented that he never would have thought he would win the Golden Bear, and that the film's victory offered "a very good opportunity to think of the people of my country, the country I grew up in, the country where I learned my stories - a great people". Ahmad Miralaii, the director of Iran's Farabi Cinematic Foundation, said that "Iranian cinema is proud of the awards", as he welcomed Farhadi at the airport upon the director's return from Berlin.
Awards
- Berlin International Film FestivalBerlin International Film FestivalThe Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
2011:- Golden Berlin Bear
- Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
- Reader Jury of the "Berliner Morgenpost"
- Silver Berlin Bear - Best Actor: (Peyman Moaadi) & (Shahab HosseiniShahab Hosseini-Early life:Shahab Hosseini was born on 3 February 1974 in Mirdamad, Tehran. Once a psychology student at the University of Tehran, he dropped out to emigrate to Canada. Instead, he ended up as a radio host in Iran. This was followed by hosting a TV show for the youth audience and some small acting...
) - Silver Berlin Bear - Best Actress: (Sareh Bayat) & (Leila HatamiLeila HatamiLeila Hatami is an award-winning Iranian actress. She is the daughter of director Ali Hatami and actress Zari Khoshkam, and is married to actor Ali Mosaffa.- Biography :...
)
- Durban International Film FestivalDurban International Film FestivalThe Durban International Film Festival is an annual film festival that takes place in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. It is one of the oldest and largest film festival in Southern African and presents over 200 screenings celebrating the best in South African, African and...
2011:- Best Film
- Best Screenplay: (Asghar FarhadiAsghar Farhadi-Career:Asghar Farhadi is a graduate of Theatre, with a BA in Dramatic Arts and MA in Stage Direction from Tehran University and Tarbiat Modarres University. Farhadi made short 8mm and 16mm films in Isfahan branch of Iranian Young Cinema Society before moving on to writing plays and screenplays for...
)
- Fajr Film Festival 2011:
- Audience Award - Best Film
- Crystal Simorgh Award - Best Cinematography
- Crystal Simorgh Award - Best Director (Asghar FarhadiAsghar Farhadi-Career:Asghar Farhadi is a graduate of Theatre, with a BA in Dramatic Arts and MA in Stage Direction from Tehran University and Tarbiat Modarres University. Farhadi made short 8mm and 16mm films in Isfahan branch of Iranian Young Cinema Society before moving on to writing plays and screenplays for...
) - Crystal Simorgh Award - Best Screenplay
- Crystal Simorgh Award - Best Sound Recorder (Mahmoud Samakbashi)
- Diploma of Honor - Best Actor in Supporting Role: (Shahab HosseiniShahab Hosseini-Early life:Shahab Hosseini was born on 3 February 1974 in Mirdamad, Tehran. Once a psychology student at the University of Tehran, he dropped out to emigrate to Canada. Instead, he ended up as a radio host in Iran. This was followed by hosting a TV show for the youth audience and some small acting...
) - Diploma of Honor - Best Actress in Supporting Role (Sareh Bayat)
- Pula Film FestivalPula Film FestivalThe Pula Film Festival is the oldest Croatian film festival which is held annually in a Roman amphitheater known as the Pula arena since 1954. The festival is usually held in the summer, in July or August....
2011:- Golden Arena Award - International Competition: Best Film
- Sydney Film FestivalSydney Film FestivalThe Sydney Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the Australian city of Sydney and is held over 12 days in June. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre and includes features,...
2011:- Official Competition Award - Best Film
- Yerevan International Film FestivalYerevan International Film FestivalYerevan International Film Festival "Golden Apricot" is a Yerevan-based annual film festival. The objectives of the festival are "to present new works by the film directors and producers in Armenia and foreign cinematographers of Armenian descent and to promote creativity and originality in the...
2011:- Grand Prix: Golden Apricot - Best Film
- World Cinema Amsterdam Festival 2011:
- Parool Audience Award - Best Film
- Saint Petersburg International Film Festival "KinoForum" 2011:
- Grand Prix - Best Film
- Melbourne International Film FestivalMelbourne International Film FestivalThe Melbourne International Film Festival is an acclaimed annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World....
2011:- Most Popular Feature Film - Asghar FarhadiAsghar Farhadi-Career:Asghar Farhadi is a graduate of Theatre, with a BA in Dramatic Arts and MA in Stage Direction from Tehran University and Tarbiat Modarres University. Farhadi made short 8mm and 16mm films in Isfahan branch of Iranian Young Cinema Society before moving on to writing plays and screenplays for...
- Most Popular Feature Film - Asghar Farhadi
- 15th Iran Cinema Celebration:
- Best Film
- Best Director
- Best Original Screenplay
- Best Supporting Actor
- San Sebastian International Film FestivalSan Sebastián International Film FestivalThe San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...
2011:- Another Look Award
- Fukuoka International Film Festival 2011:
- Audience Award - Best Film
- Riga International Film Festival 2011:
- FIPRESCI prize
- Vancouver International Film FestivalVancouver International Film FestivalThe Vancouver International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for two weeks in late September and early October...
2011:- Rogers People's Choice Award
- British Independent Film AwardsBritish Independent Film AwardsThe Moët British Independent Film Awards is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British film and cinema. Nominations and jury are announced at the beginning of November with the award ceremony taking place in late November or early December.-History:The British...
2011:- Best Foreign Film Award
- BBC Four World Cinema AwardsBBC Four World Cinema AwardsThe BBC Four World Cinema Award is an annual prize given out to celebrate the best in world cinema. A shortlist of up to six films is made by the UK's leading critics, film-school heads and festival directors from the foreign language films released in that year in the UK...
2011:- Best Film
- Asia Pacific Screen AwardsAsia Pacific Screen AwardsThe Asia Pacific Screen Awards is an international cultural initiative of the State Government of Queensland, Australia, through Events Queensland, to honour and promote the films, actors, directors, and cultures of Asia-Pacific to a global audience and to realise the objectives of UNESCO to...
2011:- Best Feature Film Award
- New York Film Critics Circle 2011:
- Best Foreign Language Film
- National Board of Review Awards 2011:
- Best Foreign Language Film
See also
- Censorship in IranCensorship in IranCensorship in Iran is the limiting or suppressing of the publishing, dissemination, and viewing of certain information in the Islamic Republic of Iran...
- Cinema of IranCinema of IranThe cinema of Iran is a flourishing film industry with a long history. Many popular commercial films are annually made in Iran, and Iranian art films win praise around the world....
- Social class in IranSocial class in IranClasses in Iran have been divided up into upper class, propertied middle class, salaried middle class, working class, independent farmers, rural wage earners...
- List of submissions to the 84th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Iranian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film