Aged 51, the famous director of “A Separation” (2011), a two-time Oscar winner, was the subject of accusations of plagiarism for his film “A Hero”, for which he won the Grand Prix at the film festival. Cannes in 2021.
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Famous Iranian director Asghar Farhadi cleared of plagiarism charges for his film A hero worn by one of its students, according to a press release published Wednesday March 13. “The verdict in the case of accusations of copyright infringement in the film A hero was returned and the work was completely cleared of these accusations”, indicates the text published by the director’s communications agency.
In 2022, a former student of Asghar Farhadi, Azadeh Masihzadeh, accused him of plagiarism by claiming that his film A hero was inspired by his documentary All Winners All Losers. “Seven experts” designated by the Iranian justice system “unanimously rejected all the plaintiff’s claims”, according to the press release, cited in particular by the Irna agency. A hero tells the story of an inmate who becomes famous after finding a purse of gold coins and giving it to its owner instead of keeping it for himself, despite his extreme poverty.
Film and documentary both inspired by a true story
“When an event has taken place, and it is reported in the press, it belongs to the public domain,” the filmmaker defended himself during the Cannes festival in 2022. “A hero is a free interpretation of this story, like this person’s documentary, there is no question of copyright.” According to the press release, the accusation was “based primarily on videos of Farhadi’s workshop sessions”, but the complainant had “altered these images for his own benefit”, and the court “therefore found this evidence invalid.”
Aged 51, the director ofA separation (2011) won a multitude of cinema’s most prestigious awards, including the Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film in 2011, and then in 2017 for The customer (a ceremony he refused to attend following a Trump anti-immigration decree). The film A hero received the Grand Prix of the Cannes Film Festival in 2021, the second most prestigious prize after the Palme d’Or.
