A Hero

Source: Memento International

‘A Hero’

Iran has selected A Hero, from two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi, as its entry for the international feature award at the 2022 Academy Awards.

The film was chosen by a nine-person Iranian delegation, representing Iranian cinema to Ampas.

The delegation reviewed 44 Iranian films, and chose A Hero from a final shortlist of three, above Ahmad Bahrami’s Wasteland and Manijeh Hekmat’s Bandar Band.

A Hero debuted in Competition at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it shared the Grand Prix with Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment No. 6.

It is among the leading contenders for the international feature award; Farhadi has excellent pedigree in this area, having previously won the prize in 2012 for A Separation and in 2016 for The Salesman.

The film centres on a man on a two-day leave from prison, who tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint against the payment of part of the sum. Memento is handling international sales, with Amazon Studios releasing the film in the US.