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Academy Award for Iranian film, cold shoulder to Trump: Analyst

A poster of the Iranian Academy Award winning movie The Salesman

The granting of 2017 Academy Award for best foreign-language film to Iranian film The Salesman can be construed as a “cold shoulder” to the “racist” policies of US President Donald Trump, a geopolitical analyst says.

In a Monday interview with Press TV, Alexander Azadgan, a senior geopolitical analyst and professor of strategic global management and international political economy, lauded the international attention to Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman, including the granting of the Cannes and Oscar awards to the film and the public screening of the movie at London’s Trafalgar Square on Sunday.

“It is a positive message and it is actually a message of cold shoulder to how Mr. Trump has been behaving,” Azadgan said.

The analyst slammed Trump’s “illegal” entry ban on seven Muslim countries which prompted Asghar Farhadi to choose not to attend the Oscars.

“My hope is that we will see more symbolic acts like this, not just from the people in London, not just from the mayor of London, but from the … allies of the United States in order to isolate Mr. Trump’s policies,” he said.

The fact that Trump has surrounded himself with officials with evident racist backgrounds, indicates that “he has very strong racist tendencies,” he added.

Two prominent Iranian-Americans, Anousheh Ansari, the first Iranian space tourist, and Firouz Naderi, a former director of Solar Systems Exploration at NASA, received the Academy Award on behalf of Farhadi.

Ansari read out a statement by Farhadi.

"My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations whom have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the US," Ansari said. "Dividing the world into the 'us' and 'our enemies' categories creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war."

Before the Oscar ceremony on Sunday, The Salesman was screened in London’s Trafalgar Square at the request of London Mayor Sadiq Khan who slammed Trump’s Muslim ban as "cruel" and "shameful."

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also took to Twitter to praise the cast and crew of The Salesman for choosing not to attend the event in person to protest Trump’s insulting ban.

The Salesman won two awards at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival last May and was also nominated for a Golden Globe and a Critics' Choice Award among several other nationwide and universal recognition.

Farhadi won Iran's first Academy Award with domestic drama A Separation in the 2012 Oscars.


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