Farhadi’s ‘Salesman’ Among BAFTA Nominees

The feature film ‘The Salesman’ by renowned Iranian director Asghar Farhadi will compete with four other films in the ‘Films Not in English Language’ category at the 71st British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards.

Elle by Paul Verhoeven (in  French), First They Killed My Father by Angelina Jolie (Cambodian-American), The Handmaiden by Park Chan-wook (Korean), and  Loveless by Andrey Zvyagintsev (Russian) are the other nominees in this category of BAFTA  Awards, Honaronline wrote.

Salesman won the Oscar for the best foreign language film last year. It was Farhandi’s second Oscar after his 2011 film ‘A Separation’ had won in the same category in 2012.

Salesman also took the best actor award for Shahab Hosseini and landed Farhadi the best screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016.

The story is about a Tehran couple. After their flat is damaged, Emad (Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti), must move into another apartment. Once relocated, a sudden eruption of violence linked to the previous tenant of their new home dramatically changes their married life creating a simmering tension between husband and wife.

BAFTA is an independent organization that supports, develops and promotes the art forms of the moving image - film, television and game - in the UK and internationally.

Its annual film awards ceremony rewards the best work of any nationality seen on British cinema screens during the preceding year.

In order for a film to be considered for a BAFTA nomination its first public exhibition must be displayed in a cinema and it must have a UK theatrical release for no fewer than seven days of the calendar year that corresponds to the upcoming awards.

Salesman had a limited screening in February and March 2017.

This year’s BAFTA Awards ceremony will take place on Feb. 18 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.