- During the press conference at Cannes, Asghar Farhadi didn’t shy away from speaking about the growing violence in Iran at the hands of Israel and the United States.
- Asghar Farhadi shared that he had recently returned to Tehran after spending time outside Iran working on the post production of his film, Parallel Tales.
- Asghar Farhadi explained that caring about innocent people killed in bombings does not mean someone supports violence against protesters
Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi returned to the Cannes Film Festival with his new film Parallel Tales. The French language drama, starring Isabelle Huppert, earned a 5.5 minutes standing ovation following its premiere. But the evening was not only about cinema. During the press conference, the filmmaker didn't shy away from speaking about the growing violence in Iran at the hands of Israel and the United States.
The director shared that he had recently returned to Tehran after spending time outside Iran working on the post production of his film. Farhadi spoke about witnessing painful events in his home country, including the deaths of civilians during the war and violence against protesters before the conflict intensified. He also expressed sympathy for people affected by attacks while making it clear that he believes “any murder is a crime.”
Asghar Farhadi said, “Over the last few months when I was busy with the post-production, two tragic events occurred in Iran. I was in Tehran last week, and the impact of these events are still with me. One of these events was the death of a number of innocent people, children, and members of the Civilian population who died in the war. Before this war, we had a number of demonstrators who went to the streets to protest and they were equally innocent but were massacred. These two events are extremely painful and will never be forgotten.”
The filmmaker explained that caring about innocent people killed in bombings does not mean someone supports violence against protesters. He said people can feel sadness and anger over both situations at the same time. According to him, showing sympathy for demonstrators who were harmed or killed during protests does not stop a person from also feeling compassion for civilians who lost their lives in attacks during the conflict.
According to Asghar Farhadi, “Any murder is a crime. Under no circumstances can I accept the fact that another human being should lose his or her life, be it a war, be it executions, be it massacres of demonstrators. It's extremely cruel and tragic to know that in the world today, despite all the progress which we are supposed to have made, every morning we wake up with news of new innocents being killed without any reason whatsoever.”
Coming back to his film, the official synopsis reads, "In search of inspiration for her new novel, Sylvie spies on her neighbors across the street. When she hires young Adam to help her with her daily routine, she has no idea that he will turn her life and her work upside down, until the fiction she had imagined surpasses the reality of them all."
Directed by Asghar Farhadi, Parallel Tales stars Virginie Efira, Isabelle Huppert, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney and Adam Bessa.
