WEDOSCAGE: Asghar Farhadi

Asghar Farhadi (Persian: اصغر فرهادی‎ Persian pronunciation: [æsɣæɾ fæɾhɒːdiː]; born 1 January 1972) is an Iranian film director and screenwriter. For his work as director, he has received one Golden Globe Award and one Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world by Time magazine in 2012.

Life and career

Farhadi was born in Homayoonshahr (Khomeynishahr), Province of Isfahan.^[1] He is a graduate of Theatre, with a BA in Dramatic Arts and MA in Stage Direction from Tehran University and Tarbiat Modarres University, respectively. Farhadi made short 8mm and 16mm films in Isfahan branch of Iranian Young Cinema Society before moving on to writing plays and screenplays for IRIB. He also directed such TV series as A Tale of a City and co-wrote the screenplay of Ebrahim Hatamikia’s Low Heights. Dancing in the Dust was his feature film debut,^[2] which he followed with A Beautiful City.
His third film, Fireworks Wednesday won the Gold Hugo at the 2006 Chicago International Film Festival. His fourth film, About Elly won the Silver Bear for Best Director at 59th International Berlin Film Festival as well as Best Picture at Tribeca Film Festival. It is about a group of Iranians who take a trip to the Caspian Sea that turns tragic. Famous film theorist and film critic David Bordwell has called About Elly a masterpiece.^[3]
His latest film Nader and Simin, A Separation premiered on 9 February 2011 at the 29th Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran and received rave reviews from Iran Society of Film Critics. It won Farhadi four awards including Best Director (for the third time after Fireworks Wednesday and About Elly). On 15 February it also played in competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival which finally earned him Golden Bear for best film becoming the first Iranian film to win the Golden Bear. In June 2011, A Separation won the Sydney Film Prize in competition with Cannes Festival's winner The Tree of Life directed by Terrence Malick .^[4]
On 19 December 2011, he was announced as being on the jury for the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, scheduled to be held in February 2012.^[5]
On 15 January 2012, his movie Nader and Simin, A Separation won the Golden Globe for the Best Foreign Language Film.^[6]
The film was also the official Iranian submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2012 Academy Awards where apart from getting nominated^[7] in this category, it also received a nomination in the Best Original Screenplay category. On the 26 February 2012, Nader and Simin, A Separation became the first Iranian movie to have received an Oscar for the best foreign language film at the 84th edition of the Academy Awards. This marked Farhadi as the first Iranian to have won an Academy Award in any of the competitive categories.^[8]

Filmography as director

Year	English title	Original title	Transliteration
2003	Dancing in the Dust	رقص در غبار	Raghs dar ghobar
2004	The Beautiful City	شهر زیبا	Shahr-e ziba
2006	Fireworks Wednesday	چهارشنبه سوری	Chaharshanbe-soori
2009	About Elly	درباره الی	Darbareye Elly
2011	Nader and Simin, A Separation	جدایی نادر از سیمین	Jodaeiye Nader az Simin