Asghar Farhadi: Media Fuels Division, Success Is 'Dangerous'
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- Asghar Farhadi received an honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where he was also the subject of a career retrospective.
- Farhadi condemned politicians and media for stoking division, invoking a mother's love in Afghanistan: "Why do you think that a mother in Afghanistan... is different than our mom?"
- Yasujirō Ozu and Akira Kurosawa demonstrate that cinema rooted in humanity transcends culture, Farhadi argued, because audiences "feel all emotions" without needing background on the culture.
- Chasing success is "very dangerous" for filmmakers, Farhadi warned, because it "makes a distance between you and people" and removes the freedom to make wrong decisions.
- Mike Leigh earned Farhadi's admiration for his improvisational process, and Farhadi said he hopes Leigh reverses his decision to retire after his upcoming "Tender Loving Care."
- "Parallel Tales" premiered at Cannes earlier this year, and Farhadi has begun writing his next film, which will be shot in his native Farsi.
- "A Separation" earned $25 million worldwide and "The Salesman" earned $4.3 million in Iran, making Farhadi rare among directors with major success both at home and abroad.
Why it matters: Farhadi's unusual dual-market success — $25 million worldwide for "A Separation" and $4.3 million domestically for "The Salesman" — gives his warnings about success-chasing and media-fueled division uncommon credibility. With a Cannes-premiered "Parallel Tales" and a new Farsi-language script in progress, the 54-year-old remains one of Iranian cinema's few actively producing international forces.
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