‘Plasco tragedy ruins joy of Oscar nod’

Iranian director Asghar Farhadi says he cannot be happy over the Oscar nomination of his film ‘The Salesman’ while his country is grieving over the tragic Tehran Plasco building disaster.

On Wednesday, Farhadi expressed sadness over the deaths of several Iranians and firefighters during the deadly Plasco building collapse, while saying that he wished he had heard the good news of the Academy Awards nomination for his film when “the Iranian people were not drowning in the sorrow” of the tragic incident.

Last Thursday, dozens of firefighters and people were killed when the 17-storey commercial center collapsed after a raging inferno.

On Tuesday, the 89th Academy Awards announced that ‘The Salesman’ was among the five nominees for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

“This a great honor that I see Iran among the countries that made the best foreign language films,” Farhadi said.

“I express my congratulations to all my colleagues in this movie,” he said, while commemorating Yadollah Najafi, the sound engineer of the project who died last January.

Other contenders for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category include ‘Land of Mine’ from Denmark, ‘A Man Called Ove’ from Sweden, ‘Tanna’ from Australia, and ‘Toni Erdmann’ from Germany.

The 89th Academy Awards will announce winners in the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center in the US state of California on February 26.

AI/AI