Can this documentary bring Iran its third Oscar?
The documentary "Finding Farideh" has been chosen as Iran's submission in the international feature film category to the Academy Awards, but some argue that the movie does not fit the criteria.
The selection of a documentary instead of a feature film to represent Iran at the Oscars has stirred negative reactions in some Iranian cultural circles, with the choice of “Finding Farideh” being likened to a coup.
Every year, the Farabi Cinema Foundation, which is affiliated to the Culture Ministry, forms a committee of eight to select the country’s nominee for the Academy Awards. Iran has nominated 25 films for the foreign film Oscar and walked off with the statuette twice — with “A Separation” in 2012 and “The Salesman” in 2017.
But this is the first time that Iran has chosen to submit a documentary for what is now called the international feature film award - the new name for "the foreign language film award" since April. The submission criteria allow animated or documentary feature films to be submitted as long as they are feature-length motion pictures produced outside the United States with a predominantly non-English dialogue track. The Oscars also have another award for short documentaries.
Raed Farid Zadeh, the secretary and spokesperson for the committee, said in a statement Aug. 18 that the committee first selected a shortlist of 10 films out of an initial 70, then debated the final three - “Castle of Dreams,” “6.5 Per Meter” and “Finding Farideh.”
