Iranian Director Asghar Farhadi receives Honorary Heart of Sarajevo for contribution to cinema

Sarajevo Film Festival Director Jovan Marjanovic presented the prestigious award to Farhadi to thunderous applause from the packed National Theatre audience.

The Iranian director said he was honored to receive the award, which holds great importance for him, and that he was very happy.

"This is an award that has a special meaning. I would like to thank the Sarajevo Film Festival team. This is my second visit to Sarajevo, after eight years. I like the atmosphere here and the large number of people who come to watch films, thousands of them. I am happy to have the opportunity to explore this festival. Thank you," Asghar Farhadi said.

Following the presentation of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo, a screening of his film A Separation was held.

Farhadi returns to Sarajevo after eight years. At the 24th Sarajevo Film Festival in 2018, he served as president of the jury of the Competition – Feature Film program, while his film Everybody Knows was also screened in the Open Air program.

This year’s festival features the 'Tribute to' program, which includes a retrospective of his films.

Asghar Farhadi was born in Iran in 1972. He became interested in film as a teenager and began his education in 1986 by joining the Young Cinema Society in Isfahan, where he made short films on 8mm and 16mm film. He graduated in dramatic arts from the University of Tehran in 1998 and several years later earned a master’s degree in theatre directing. He dedicated his graduate thesis to Harold Pinter, with particular emphasis on the importance of silence and pauses in his dramaturgy.

He made his directorial debut with Dancing in the Dust (2002). Following the success of About Elly (2009), for which he won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlinale, Farhadi gained international recognition and critical acclaim with A Separation (2011). The film won more than 70 awards, including the Academy Award and César Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He then moved to France, where he made The Past (2013), which earned Bérénice Bejo the Best Actress award at Cannes.

He subsequently returned to Iran to direct The Salesman (2016), which competed in the main competition at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, where it won awards for Best Screenplay and Best Actor for Shahab Hosseini. The film became his greatest success and earned him his second Academy Award.

His film A Hero (2021) won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.

Farhadi’s latest film, Parallel Tales, shot in France, was screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.