- Asghar Farhadi was born in 1972 in Iran. He became interested in cinema in his teenage years and started his filmmaking education by joining the Youth Cinema Society of Esfahan in 1986 where he made 8mm and 16mm short films. He received his Bachelors in Theater from University of Tehran's School of Dramatic Arts in 1998 and his Masters in Stage Direction from Tarbiat Modarres University a few years later. During these formative years, Farhadi made six shorts and two TV series for Iran's National Broadcasting Corporation (IRIB) of which Story of a City (2000) is most noteworthy. In 2001, he debuted in professional cinema by co-writing the script for Low Heights (2002), a post-9/11 political chronicle of Southwest Iran, with famed war film director, Ebrahim Hatamikia. The film was met with both critical and public success. The following year, Farhadi made his directorial debut, Dancing in the Dust (2003), about a man forced to divorce his wife and go hunting snakes in the desert in order to repay his debts to his in-laws. The film earned recognition at Fajr and Moscow International Film Festivals and a year later, Beautiful City (2004), a grave work about a young man condemned to death at the age of sixteen, received awards from Fajr and Warsaw International Film Festivals. His third film, Fireworks Wednesday (2006), won the Gold Hugo at the 2006 Chicago International Film Festival. His fourth film, About Elly (2009), was called "a masterpiece" by film critic David Bordwell and won the Silver Bear for Best Director at 59th Berlin International Film Festival as well as Best Picture at Tribeca Film Festival. It was also Iran's official submission for the Foreign Language Film competition of Academy Awards in 2009. His more recent film, A Separation (2011), became a sensation. It got critical acclaim inside and outside of Iran; Roger Ebert called it "the best picture of the year," and it was awarded the Crystal Simorgh from Fajr Film Festival, Golden Bear and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury from Berlin International Film Festival, and also won Best Foreign Language Film from The Boston Society of Film Critics, Chicago and Los Angeles Film Critics Association, New York Film Critics Circle, National Board of Review, Golden Globes, César Award, Independent Spirit Award, and ultimately the Academy Award in the "Best Foreign Language Film of the Year," making him the first Iranian filmmaker ever to win an Oscar. His Oscar acceptance speech at the 84th Academy Awards, a message of peace in tens political times in his country, made him an instant hero among st Iranians. His film also received nomination for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award in the "Best. Film Not in the English Language" category and for an Academy Award in the "Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen" category. A few days after receiving an Oscar, Farhadi signed with the United Talent Agency (UTA). While A Separation (2011) was being screened in different festivals and countries, Asghar Farhadi and his family moved to Paris so he could start work on the screenplay of The Past (2013), a story that takes place outside of Iran. The main character, Ahmad, returns to Paris after a four-year absence to finalize the legal aspects of his divorce from Marie. Ahmad's presence in Marie's life after all this time creates a complicated situation for them, and forces them to dig into their common past. The Past (2013) was released in 2013 in France during the Cannes Film Festival and again it had around one million admissions. It won the Best Actress Award at Cannes Festival and was nominated for the Golden Globes and the César. Farhadi returned to Iran in 2015 to shoot The Salesman (2016). The film was completed in 2016 and selected in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where Farhadi won Best Screenplay while Shahab Hosseini, the lead actor, took home Best Actor. The Salesman (2016) was released in France that fall as well as in Iran where it became Farhadi's biggest success. In February 2017, he won his second Oscar for Best Film in a Foreign Language, making him one of the few directors worldwide who have won the category twice. A few months after, Farhadi kicked off his following project for which he reunites on screen Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem. All shot in Spain and in Spanish, Everybody Knows (2018) also stars the Argentinean actor Ricardo Darín. The film is selected as the 71st Cannes Film Festival's opening film while also being in competition. Then at the 74th Cannes Film Festival, for his fourth appearance on the Official Competition, he presented A Hero (2021), which won the Grand Prix.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- SpouseParisa Bakhtavar(1990 - present) (2 children)
- Children
- Intimate-in-scope-narratives that are consistently reaching for a universal truth
- Stories of parents and spouses complicated by secrets and revelations
- The electricity of simple human interaction
- Exploring the inevitable complications that arise via class, gender, and religious differences in the context of a microcosm of modern Iran
- Doling out narrative information, piece by piece
- His film A Separation (2011) is the first Iranian movie to win an Oscar.
- One of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World (2012).
- First Iranian Director to be nominated for Academy Awards in any other category except Best Foreign Language Film.
- First Iranian filmmaker to receive a nomination for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award ("Best Film Not in the English Language," A Separation (2011)).
- Father of Sarina Farhadi who played Termeh, the 11-year-old Daughter of Nader and Simin, in A Separation (2011).
- I feel it's important to talk about the complex issues affecting us. I think it's insulting to an audience to make them sit and watch a film and then give them a message in one sentence.
- It was in the theater that I learned how it is that you can work with actors. To give an example, I have a character in the film [A Separation (2011)] who's supposed to be a religious woman. Once the script is finished, I didn't find her and say 'You're going to be a religious character. This is what you should do'. In the few months remaining before shooting she would actually turn into a religious person. I asked her to pray promptly every day, meaning five times. I asked her to wear a chador which is the traditional long veil. I asked her not to use her personal car... to restrict her rapport with any men who were not known to her. And after a while of rehearsing this way she actually started to behave like a religious person. Don't worry, as soon as the film is over, she turned back into her former self.
- Classical tragedy was the war between good and evil. We wanted evil to be defeated and good to be victorious. But the battle in modern tragedy is between good and good. And no matter which side wins, we'll still be heartbroken.
- [on how Iran could consider submitting A Separation (2011), which deals with marital breakup in a Muslim family, for Oscar consideration] It's not a discussion that's linear - the government is this way, the people are that way. Within the government there's diversity of thought and taste. Some among them are much more open-minded, others are very closed. Perhaps what you're asking is, given the image that we have of the government which is so hard and full of censorship, how can you make such a film? That question would be like if you ask someone living in a desert, how is it that you can live, given the heat?
- I like storytelling movies and more than that I like historical movies; and I think someday I'll definitely make a movie about the past 50 years history.
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