Friday, March 21, 2025
Iranians and Iranian expatriates have now collected 23 Oscar nominations across the whole range of
filmmaking skills from acting to writing, from costuming to sound editing, from special effects to animation.
Before the recent surge of nominations started in 1997, only one Iranian had ever been nominated
Reza Aghayan, an Iranian-American and he pulled down three nominations in the 60s and 70s for
costume design. In the years since 1997, Iranian expatriates have received 14 nominations but no Os[1]cars, while Iranians resident in Iran have received six nominations and three Oscars.
Following are the Iranian Oscar nominees over the years. Nominees in bold won the Oscar in the
listed category.
Year Nominee Film Category
1969 Reza Aghayan Gaily, Gaily Costume Design
1972 Reza Aghayan Lady Sings the Blues Costume Design
1975 Reza Aghayan Funny Lady Costume Design
1997 Habib Zargarpour Twister Special Effects
1997 Darius Khondji Evita Cinematography
1998 Hossein Amini The Wings of the Dove Screenplay
1999 Majid Majidi Children of Heaven Foreign Language Film
2000 Mehdi Nowruzian Killing Joe Live Action Short
2001 Habib Zargarpour The Perfect Storm Special Effects
2004 Shohreh Aghdashloo House of Sand and Fog Best Supporting Actress
2007 Kami Asgar Apocalypto Sound Editing
2008 Marjane Satrapi Persepolis Animated Feature Film
2009 Emud Mokhberi Oktapodi Short Film Animated
2012 Asghar Farhadi A Separation Original Screenplay
2012 Asghar Farhadi A Separation Foreign Language Film
2014 Talkhon Hamzavi Parvaneh Live Action Short
2016 Asghar Farhadi The Salesman Foreign Language Film
2019 Rayka Zehtabchi Period. End of Sentence. Documentary Short
2023 Darius Khondji Bardo Cinematography
2023 Cyrus Neshvad The Red Suitcase Short Film Live Action
2024 Yeganeh Moghaddam Our Uniform Short Animated Film
2025 Sohani, Molayemi In the Shadow of the Cypress Short Animated Film
2025 Mohammad Rasoul of The Seed of three Sacred Fig International Feature Film