TEHRAN – Iranian drama “Hero” will be competing in the 50th Belgrade International Film Festival as it failed last week to receive a nomination in the international feature film category of the 94th Oscars.

Eight screenings have been arranged for the film at the festival, which will take place in the Serbian capital from February 25 to March 6.

Directed by two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi, the film was also shortlisted for the Best Picture – Non-English Language category at the 79th Annual Golden Globe Awards, however, it left the field as the Japanese drama “Drive My Car” took the honor home.

The film, which is a co-production between Iran and France, follows Rahim, who is in prison because he was unable to pay a debt. During a two-day leave of absence from prison, he attempts to have his creditor withdraw his complaint over part of the sum owed. But things don’t go as planned.

The winner of the Grand Prix (ex aequo) at Cannes 2021 has been screened at numerous international events and won several awards.  

Farhadi has been picked as best director at the 14th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) for this film, which was described by the jury as “an intimate epic”. They also said, “Asghar Farhadi continues to perfect the fine art of making cinema that is hyper-local yet also globally understood and universally loved.”

The Belgrade film festival is celebrating its 50th edition with the motto presented at the visual solution of this year’s festival, which reads “New Brave World”, a wordplay in relation to the slogan of the first edition held in 1971 which read “Brave New World”.

This year’s festival will showcase a large number of films from around the world by celebrated filmmakers, including Pedro Almodovar, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dario Argento, Paul Schrader, Ildiko Enyedi, Justin Kurzel, Paolo Genovese, Paul Thomas Anderson and Gaspar Noe.

Photo: “Hero” directed by Asghar Farhadi.

MMS/YAW