Farhadi joins multi-Oscar-winning list

World-renowned Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi joins a unique list of directors who have won at least two Academy Awards for best director.

The Iranian director won an Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards on Sunday, making him the 21st person to join the list of directors who have won at least two Oscars since 1929.

Farhadi’s first Oscar came in 2012, when his film, ‘A Separation’, won in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

The list of great directors of cinema history who have won at least two Academy Awards includes Hollwood favorites Billy Wilder, David Lean, Steven Spielberg, Fred Zinnemann, Elia Kazan, Clint Eastwood, Oliver Stone, Milos Forman, Vittorio De Sica and Federico Fellini, among others.

Director John Ford has the most Oscar wins with four, followed by Frank Capra and William Wyler, each of whom have three.

The 89th edition of the Academy Awards ceremony was held in Los Angeles, California, on February 26, which also turned into a platform for censuring US President Donald Trump's behavior and decisions in the past five weeks since he took office.

Iranian-American astronaut, Anousheh Ansari, and former director at NASA, Firouz Naderi, went on stage during the 89th Academy Awards to accept the Oscar statuette on behalf of Farhadi, who boycotted the Oscars in a snub to the decision.

“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 who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans their entry to the US,” Ansari said, reading Farhadi's statement to the great roar of applause that broke out from the crowd.

The cinema community has shown great solidarity in protest against the unfair executive order by Trump, which banned residents of seven majority-Muslim countries to enter the US, and indicated their support of Farhadi.

AI/AI