When Art Meets Politics
The most glamorous and prestigious night in Hollywood, the 89th Academy Awards which were held last Sunday, was rife with mistakes and botches and will perhaps be most vividly remembered for the infamous Best Picture win gaffe. However, amid the splendour and plethora of prominent guests, it was all too easy to ignore the absence of Asghar Fharadi – an Academy Award winning director who received his second victory on Sunday for his film “The Salesman.” Fharadi’s absence was a clear echo of the ever-changing American politics and the highly controversial actions of the newly elected President Donald Trump.
Following the Academy Award nominations in January Asghar Fharadi, an Iranian native, declared that he would be boycotting the ceremony in protest of Donald Trump’s executive order which banned individuals from seven majority Muslim countries, including Iran, from entering the United States, instead choosing to remain in Tehran. In his place he sent Anousheh Ansari, the first Iranian in space, and Firouz Naderi, a scientist who formerly worked for NASA to receive the award on his behalf. In a statement read out by Ansari, Fharadi stated that his absence was “out of respect for the people of my country and those six other nations whom have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S.”
Furthermore, Mr. Fharadi was not the only one to boycott the event. The star of “The Salesman” Taraneh Alidoosti also previously announced that she would not be attending the ceremony and was thereby absent from last week’s celebrations. The five other directors whose films were also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film issued a joint statement in support of their colleague’s decision stating that “Regardless of who wins the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film on Sunday, we refuse to think in terms of borders. We believe there is no best country, best gender, best religion or best color. We want this award to stand as a symbol of the unity between nations and the freedom of the arts, human rights are not something you have to apply for. They simply exist – for everybody.”
Asgar Fharadi’s actions have put a spotlight on the injustices that are being committed regarding innocent people due to the paranoia, xenophobia, and ignorance of the governing body of what we have come to consider the democratic haven of the world and which coins itself as the “Greatest Country in the World” and the “Land of the Free.” However, despite all this, the overwhelming support from the international community has made it abundantly clear that world stands in solidarity with all those who are being discriminated against and whose rights are called into question. We must not be blinded to the struggle of those around us and stand together and stand up for each other in this turbulent time of change.
