Iran’s Asghar Farhadi honored by Variety mag.

Leading US entertainment publication Variety has honored Iran’s internationally acclaimed director Asghar Farhadi with the 2021 Creative Impact in Directing Award for his feature 'A Hero'.

“I’m so honored to receive this award from Variety,” Farhadi said, adding “The general idea with this film was to make the directing as invisible as possible, so it makes me very happy to get this award.”

Variety also cited Farhadi as saying, "While filming, we did everything we could to hide the director, and we did everything on the set to make the directing disappear into the background. I wanted it to feel seamless. So I’m very pleased that the film is being received this way.”

‘A Hero’ is about Rahim, a divorced man who has been imprisoned due to unpaid debts. During a two-day leave, Rahim tries to prove that he is a good person.

The flick was awarded the Grand Prix at the 74th Cannes Film Festival in France. The prize was shared by Juho Kuosmanen’s ‘Compartment No.6’.

Variety, each year, honors people “who have offered a notable contribution to the film landscape for the year”, the publication’s website reads.

‘A Hero’ is shortlisted for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2022 Academy Awards.

Farhadi’s movies ‘A Separation’ (2011) and ‘The Salesman’ (2016) won two Oscars for best foreign-language film.

SQ/AG