(Tehran) The movie World War III by Iranian director Houman Seyyedi, who won an award at the last Venice Film Festival, has been chosen to represent the Islamic Republic at the next Oscars, the Farabi Film Foundation announced on Monday.
Posted at 11:19 a.m.
“After viewing 75 films, the selection committee unanimously chose Jang-e Jahani Sevom (World War IIIin Persian) to represent Iranian cinema” at the prestigious American competition, the foundation said in a statement.
This is the story of Chakib, a homeless worker who becomes by chance the actor of a film about the atrocities committed by Adolf Hitler during the Second World War, according to the website of the Venice Film Festival.
The director of the film, Houman Seyyedi, 41, won the Orizzonti prize for best film for this work at 79e Venice International Film Festival which ended on September 10.
Also an actor and screenwriter, he also won the prize for best interpretation and best screenplay at the Fajr film festival in Tehran in 2014 and 2017.
The committee chose the film in particular for “its high technical level, its exceptional production and its innovative script”, indicated to the official agency Irna, Parviz Sheikhtadi, spokesperson for the selection committee.
Since 1994, the Farabi Foundation selects almost every year an Iranian film to participate in the Oscars.
The famous Iranian director Asghar Farhadi twice won the Oscar for best foreign film, in 2011 for A separation then in 2017 for The customera French co-production.