Culture Minister Congratulates Iranian Winners at Cannes

Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati offered his congratulations to Asghar Farhadi and Shahab Hosseini, who won the Best Screenplay and Best Actor awards respectively at the Cannes Film Festival for Farhadi’s The Salesman.

Here is IFP’s translation of his congratulatory message covered by ISNA.

 

 

The Salesman added a new honour to the long list of valuable achievements of Iranian productions in international festivals within the past three decades, Jannati said in a message on Monday May 23 on his social network account.

The fact that Farhadi and Hosseini bagged two awards at Cannes Festival indicates the professional strength of artists who repeatedly demonstrate creativity, he went on to say.

The minister congratulated all Iranian cinema artists on the success, and expressed his hope that the Iranian cinema industry would be able to build on its success, and play a role in meeting the nation’s needs, addressing fundamental issues and emphasizing national and Islamic values.

The Salesman received the Best Screenplay award during the 69th edition of the festival on Sunday May 22, and also brought the Iranian superstar Shahab Hosseini the prize for Best Actor.

Iranian actress Taraneh Alidousti was also present at the closing ceremony of the festival in the southern French city.

Premiered on Saturday, the movie (Forushande in Persian) portrays Ra’ana (Alidousti) and Emad (Hosseini), a couple who are acting in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.