TEHRAN – Roman Theater of Fiesole in the Italian city of Florence be granting its 2022 Fiesole Maestri del Cinema Award to the Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi.

He will be receiving the honor in a special ceremony on Saturday evening at the theater.

Filmmakers such as Paolo Sorrentino, Giuseppe Tornatore, Terry Gilliam, Luchino Visconti, Orson Welles, Stanley Kubrick, Ingmar Bergman and Ken Loach have previously received the award, which is given by the Municipality of Florence in collaboration with the National Syndicate of Critici Cinematografici Italiani Group Toscano and the Fondazione Sistema Toscana.

Farhadi’s Oscar-winning drama “A Separation” will be screened after he receives the Maestri del Cinema Award.

In addition, “Le Verità Nascoste: Il Cinema di Asghar Farhadi” (“The Hidden Truths: Asghar Farhadi’s cinema”), a book written by Italian scholar Simone Emiliani will be introduced at the ceremony.

Earlier in June, Fiesole Mayor Anna Ravoni said, “I am happy to present the 2022 edition of the Fiesole Prize to the Masters of Cinema, which represents a milestone in the history of our event.”

“This year the Prize wanted to broaden its gaze, opening up to the Middle East and we can only be proud of this,” she added.

She noted, “In fact, with the exception of Akira Kurosawa in 1986, the masters who have been on the stage of the Roman Theater of Fiesole up until now have all been either European or American.”

Florence is currently paying tribute to Farhadi with a retrospective of his work in the Piazzale degli Uffizi. 

Among some of the movies, which have been selected to be screened in the open-air retrospective, which is underway in the dramatic setting of the historical site of the city, are “Everybody Knows” starring Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, “The Salesman” and “A Hero”.

“A Hero”, the winner of the Grand Prix (ex aequo) at Cannes 2021, was shortlisted in the international feature film category of the 2022 Oscars. However, it failed to win an award.

Photo: Director Asghar Farhadi attends the 74th Cannes Film Festival on July 14, 2021, to promote his latest film “A Hero”. (Reuters)

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