Read Director Asghar Farhadi's Inspiring Oscars Acceptance Statement
Tonight, the Iranian film The Salesman won the Oscar for best foreign language film. But thanks to Donald Trump's travel ban, for a while it looked like director Asghar Farhadi wouldn't be able to attend-even if he had wanted to. The ban aimed to exclude people from seven Muslim-majority countries from the United States, including Iran.
Even after the travel ban was put on hold by the federal court, Farhadi, whose film A Separation won an Oscar in 2012-chose not to attend the ceremony; instead, Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American engineer and the first female private space explorer, accepted the award on his behalf. Ansari read a statement from Farhadi, which you can read in full below:
It's a great honor to be receiving this valuable award for the second time. I would like to thank the members of the Academy, my crew in Iran, my producer, Amazon, and my fellow nominees. I'm sorry I'm not with you tonight. My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations whom have been disrespected by the inhuman law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S. Dividing the world into the 'us' and 'our enemies' categories creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war. These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which have themselves been victims of aggression. Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others. An empathy which we need today more than ever. Thank you on behalf of Mr. Farhadi. Thank you.
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