Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi boycotted the Oscars to protest Trump's Muslim Ban
The Salesman won Best Foreign Language Film tonight, but filmmaker Asghar Farhadi decided not to attend tonight's ceremony. Instead, he sent Iranian-American businesswoman Anousheh Ansari, the first Iranian to go to space, to accept the award and read a statement on his behalf. Here is the complete statement from Farhadi: It’s a great honor to be receiving this valuable award for the second time. I would like to thank the members of the academy, my crew in Iran, my producer Alexandre Mallet-Guy, Cohen Media, Amazon and my fellow nominees in the foreign-film category. I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight. My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S. Dividing the world into the "us" and "our enemies" categories creates fears. A deceitful justification for aggression and war. These ...