Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

has submitted films for the

Academy Award for Best International Feature Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

regularly since 1994. Prior to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Imperial Iran sent a single film in 1977. Iran has submitted a total of twenty-six films for Oscar consideration and three films,

Majid Majidi Majid Majidi ( fa, مجید مجیدی, ; born 17 April 1959) is an Iranian film director, producer, and screenwriter, who started his film career as an actor. In his films, Majidi has touched on many themes and genres and has won numerous inte ...

's ''

Children of Heaven ''Children of Heaven'' ( fa, بچه‌های آسمان, ''Bæccähâ-ye âsmân'') is a 1997 Iranian family drama film written and directed by Majid Majidi. It deals with a brother and sister, and their adventures over a lost pair of shoes. It w ...

'' and

Asghar Farhadi Asghar Farhadi ( fa, اصغر فرهادی, ; born 7 May 1972)Soureh Movie Database

's ''

A Separation ''A Separation'' ( fa, جدایی, Jodâyi; also titled ''Nader and Simin, A Separation'') is a 2011 Iranian drama film written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, starring Leila Hatami, Peyman Moaadi, Shahab Hosseini, Sareh Bayat, and Sarina Farhad ...

'' and '' The Salesman'', have received an Oscar nomination. Of the three films, ''A Separation'' and ''The Salesman'' won the award. Six of the submitted films were directed by Majidi and five of them were directed by Farhadi.

Bahman Ghobadi Bahman Ghobadi ( fa, بهمن قبادی; ; born 1 February 1969 in Baneh, Kurdistan province, Iran) is an Iranian Kurdish film director, producer and writer. He belongs to the " new wave" of Iranian cinema. Biography He was born in Baneh, a K ...

and

Reza Mirkarimi Reza Mirkarimi ( fa, رضا میرکریمی; born 27 January 1967) is an Iran, Iranian screenwriter and film director. He was also Secretary of the International Film Festival of the Fajr Film Festival. Career He graduated from Fine Arts Univ ...

were each chosen to represent Iran at the Oscars on two occasions. On 24 September 2012, the film '' A Cube of Sugar'' was selected as the Iranian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the

85th Academy Awards The 85th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2012 and took place on February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p. ...

. However, on the same day the head of Iran's government controlled cinema agency called for a boycott of the Oscars due to the ''

Innocence of Muslims ''Innocence of Muslims'' is an anti-Islamic short film that was written and produced by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. Two versions of the 14-minute video were uploaded to YouTube in July 2012, under the titles "The Real Life of Muhammad" and "Muham ...

'' video on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

that originated in the United States.

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

reported that Iran's Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hosseini had confirmed that Iran would boycott.

Submissions

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1956. The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote via secret ballot to determine the five nominees for the award. The Iranian nominee is selected each fall by a committee appointed by the

Farabi Cinematic Foundation Abu Nasr Muhammad Al-Farabi ( fa, ابونصر محمد فارابی), ( ar, أبو نصر محمد الفارابي), known in the West as Alpharabius; (c. 872 – between 14 December, 950 and 12 January, 951)PDF version was a renowned early Isl ...

. Despite poor relations with the United States, Iran has participated in the US-based competition since 1994, missing only one year. They attempted to withdraw their 1995 submission ''

The White Balloon '' The White Balloon'' ( fa, بادکنک سفيد , ) is a 1995 Iranian film directed by Jafar Panahi, with a screenplay by Abbas Kiarostami. It was Panahi's feature-film debut as director. The film received many strong critical reviews and won ...

'' after sending it to Hollywood, but

AMPAS The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...

refused to accept the withdrawal. All selected films were primarily in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, except for Ghobadi's two

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

language films and Farhadi's The Past which was in French. Also in six occasions, films made by Iranian directors represented other countries:

I Love Vienna ''I Love Vienna'' is a 1991 Austrian comedy film directed by Houchang Allahyari. The film was selected as the Austrian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 64th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.Margaret Herrick Libra ...

/Austria,

Persepolis , native_name_lang = , alternate_name = , image = Gate of All Nations, Persepolis.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Ruins of the Gate of All Nations, Persepolis. , map = , map_type ...

/ France,

For a Moment, Freedom ''For a Moment Freedom'' (german: Ein Augenblick Freiheit; french: Pour un instant la liberté) is a 2008 film, written and directed by Austrian-Iranian filmmaker Arash T. Riahi. Synopsis ''For a Moment Freedom'' tells of the odyssey of three I ...

/Austria,

Baba Joon ''Baba Joon'' ( he, באבא ג'ון) is a 2015 Israeli drama film directed by Yuval Delshad. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It won the award for Best Film at the 2015 O ...

/Israel,

Under the Shadow ''Under the Shadow'' ( fa, زیر سایه‎, Zeer-e sāye) is a 2016 Persian-language psychological horror film written and directed by Iranian-born Babak Anvari as his directorial debut. A mother and daughter are haunted by a mysterious evil i ...

/UK and

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

/Sweden. Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by Iran for review by the Academy for the award by year and the respective Academy Awards ceremony.

Notes

References

External links

The Official Academy Awards DatabaseIMDb Academy Awards PageIMDb list of submitted films
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iranian Submissions For Academy Award For Best Foreign Language Film Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award submissions by country Lists of Iranian films