‘The Salesman’ has chance for Oscar: Mathematician

Ben Zauzmer, a mathematician who predicts and writes about the Oscars for The Hollywood Reporter, predicts Iran’s ‘The Salesman’ to have a potential chance among winners.

Zauzmer used mathematical models based on the past Oscar nominations and winnings to find out the most eligible pictures for a win at the 89th Academy Awards ceremony.

According to Zauzmer’s analysis, ‘The Salesman’ has a chance to score an Oscar for best foreign film after Germany’s ‘Toni Erdmann’ with plenty of awards in America and across Europe.

The mathematical model also revealed that the musical 'La La Land' would win for best picture, director and actress, but narrowly miss best original screenplay and actor trophies.

Asghar Farhadi, the director of ‘The Salesman’ who previously won for ‘A Separation’ (2011), has announced boycotting the Oscars in protest at Trump’s infamous travel ban.

This comes as several figures in art and cinema have added their voices to a chorus of protest against the order by the US president, including winners of the Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as a sizable number of British and American cineastes, actors and crew members, besides several cinematic events that showed solidarity with those inflicted by the unjust US measure. 

ES/AG