September 15, 2023
Two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi was at the Zurich Film Festival last September when protests erupted across Iran. He has not gone back.
He’s been working on a new film in Los Angeles and Europe. He says he plans to go back home before he shoots this film, even though he is not sure they will let him out again. It’s a risk he says he is willing to take.
Farhadi was in Turin recently to give a masterclass at Italy’s National Museum of Cinema. In a rare interview, he took questions via e-mail from Variety, the newspaper of the entertainment industry.
He said he’s been busy with research and writing a script since last year. “It is still too soon to announce the details of the project. The only thing I can say is I spend all my time writing.”
He was asked his view of what is going on in Iran, beyond the remarks he has already made critical of the regime, and responded, “What I can add to what I have already said is: The situation will not return to how it was before. And that there is great hope in what happened. And I believe in this extraordinary uprising that occurred in Iran in the last few months. Because, at its core, there is a tremendous humane and legitimate desire.”
As to why he has not returned to Iran, he said, “The reason I was outside Iran during this time is because of a project that was planned in advance, and I am sure, when the film’s script is finished and the research is done, I will return [to Iran] until the pre-production starts. Then I will go back to the film’s location, where it is going to be shot.” Asked whether he can still make films in Iran, he said, “I’m not officially aware of being banned from working in Iran, but I have heard it unofficially. Moreover, I know that I’m officially banned from trading. And again, unofficially, I have heard that I am banned from leaving Iran.”
