Iran in Oscar boycott over anti-Islam film

25 Sep 2012, 6:20 am   -   Source: AAP
Share This
0 
+ Comment
1
Iranian director Asghar Farhadi won the 2012 Oscar for best foreign film for his movie, A Separation - the first such prize for Iran. (AP)

Iranian director Asghar Farhadi won the 2012 Oscar for best foreign film for his movie, A Separation - the first such prize for Iran. (AP)

The Iranian government has announced a boycott of next year's Oscars in the wake of the anti-Islam video made in the United States.

RELATED

Iran's culture minister says his country will boycott the 2013 Oscars following the anti-Islam video made in the United States that denigrates the Prophet Mohammed.

An Iranian film won an Oscar in the foreign film category in February.

But Mohammed Hosseini says the Islamic Republic will not field an entry for next year's awards due to the low-budget video he dubbed "an intolerable insult to the Prophet of Islam", the semiofficial ISNA news agency reported. Hosseini urged other Islamic countries to also boycott.

He confirmed that the committee in charge of selecting Iran's entry has already picked Ye Habbeh Ghand, or A Cube of Sugar - a film about a family wedding turning into a funeral when the groom's relative dies - to compete for best foreign film.

Iranian director Asghar Farhadi won the 2012 Oscar for best foreign film for his movie, A Separation - the first such prize for Iran.

Tehran officialdom welcomed the Oscar, especially as Farhadi beat an Israeli film and three others in the foreign language category, describing it as a conquest for Iranian culture and a blow for Israel's perceived outsized influence in America.

But Iranian hardliners were also upset by the movie's exposure of the troubles in Iranian society through the story of a collapsing marriage.

Iranian authorities have long had an uneasy relationship with the country's filmmakers and influential clerics have often denounced the domestic cinema as dominated by Western-tainted liberals and political dissenters.

Earlier on Monday, Javad Shamaghdari, head of the government-controlled cinema agency, said the Oscars should be boycotted until the organisers denounce the anti-Islam film, Innocence of Muslims, which has prompted outrage among Muslims around the world.

At least 51 people, including the US ambassador to Libya, have been killed in violence linked to protests over the film, which also has renewed debate over freedom of expression in the US and in Europe.

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube

Your Comments

Ronald

Ronald Martens - from Perth Morley, 3 months ago

I doubt my comment will be published. Why is it the only religious body that stage violent protests and kill people are Islam? Nobody can say anything about this organization and why all of a sudden Clerics have more say about issues. Everyone just shuts their mouth in fear of ramifications. There should be a freedom of expression. If there was a film against say the Catholic Church they may condemn it but there won't be any Catholics staging violent protest and killing people thats madness.

Join the Discussion

Name
City / Suburb E.g. Artarmon, Sydney
Title
Comment
You have characters remaining.
Validation
What's this?
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.
All submitted comments become the property of SBS. They are moderated, so we reserve the right to edit comments and remove HTML tags. Not all submitted comments will be published. Publication does not mean we endorse the opinions expressed. Please read our terms and conditions for more information.