January 24-2014
nominations were announced Friday morning.
Iranians and Iranian expatriates have collected 12 Oscar nominations in the last 18 years, a very respectable total. They have also collected them 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—and he pulled down three nominations in the 60s and 70s for costume design.
However, despite all the nominations, only one Oscar has gone to any Iranian nominee. That was Asghar Farhadi who won two years ago for directing “A Separation,” winner in the Best Foreign Language Film category,
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 Separation Original Screenplay
2012 Asghar Farhadi Separation Foreign Language Film