2003–2009: Rise to prominence At the start of his career, Farhadi made numerous short
8 mm and
16 mm films in the Isfahan branch of the Iranian Young Cinema Society before moving on to writing plays and screenplays for
IRIB. He also directed such TV series as
A Tale of a City and co-wrote the screenplay for
Ebrahim Hatamikia's
Low Heights. In 2003, Farhadi made his feature film debut with
Dancing in the Dust about a man having trouble raising money for his marriage dowry installements. Deborah Young of
Variety praised Farhadi as an emerging filmmaker writing, "Dispensing with heavyhanded symbolism, Farhadi tells the tale engrossingly and with a lot of physicality through the two main actors". The film earned Farhadi a nomination at the
25th Moscow International Film Festival and three awards at the
Asia-Pacific Film Festival including Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for
Faramarz Gharibian. Farhadi's sophomore effort was
The Beautiful City about a man celebrating his 18th birthday in a detention center while being in prison for murder. The film won praise for Farhadi's intricate commentary on Iran's
Islamic judicial system. Ronnie Scheib of
Variety wrote, "Farhadi launches a simple-seeming quest through all manner of obstacles and complications, each detour greatly altering the nature of the journey". Farhadi won the Grand Prix at the
Warsaw Film Festival. With his third film,
Fireworks Wednesday, Farhadi won the Gold Hugo at the 2006
Chicago International Film Festival. Set amongst the days before the
Persian New Year, people set off fireworks following an ancient
Zoroastrian tradition. A domestic dispute ensues. Geoff Andrew of
Time Out declared, "What distinguishes the film is the way Farhadi keeps us guessing from as to what exactly is happening and why; repeatedly shifting our point of view, he forces us to question our assumptions about characters and their reliability. This compelling, corrosive account of male-female relationships in today's Tehran is tempered by genuine compassion for the individuals concerned; wisely, Farhadi never serves judgement on them in their troubled pursuit of truth, love and happiness. Intelligent, illuminating and directed with unflashy expertise." In 2009, Farhadi directed his fourth film,
About Elly which tackles
middle-class families in
Iran. The film earned critical acclaim with
Peter Bradshaw of
The Guardian describing it as "an absorbing picture, powerfully acted, disturbing and suspenseful". He also compared the film to
Roman Polanski's
Knife in the Water (1962) and
Michaelangelo Antonioni's ''
L'Avventura'' (1960) adding, "Farhadi also has
Michael Haneke's beady eye for the dynamics and symptoms of group guilt." The film won Farhadi the
Silver Bear for Best Director at the 59th International
Berlin Film Festival and also Best Picture at the
Tribeca Film Festival. The latter film is about a group of
Iranians who take a trip to the Iranian beaches of
Caspian Sea that turns tragic.
Film theorist and critic
David Bordwell has called
About Elly a masterpiece.
2011–2016: Breakthrough and acclaim His film
A Separation premiered on 9 February 2011 at the 29th
Fajr International Film Festival in
Tehran and received critical acclaim from the Iran Society of Film Critics. It earned Farhadi four awards, including Best Director (for the third time after
Fireworks Wednesday and
About Elly). On 15 February 2011, it also played in competition at the
61st Berlin International Film Festival, which received a
Golden Bear for best film, becoming the first Iranian film to win that award. In June 2011,
A Separation won the
Sydney Film Prize in competition with
The Tree of Life, directed by
Terrence Malick. It also won the Best Film award at the 2011
Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Roger Ebert praised the Farhadi's on his nuanced depiction of Iranian culture writing, "[He] provides a useful portrait of Iran today. Some inflamed American political rhetoric has portrayed it as a rogue nation eager to start nuclear war...this film portrays a more nuanced nation, and its decent characters are trying to do the right thing. To untangle right and wrong in this fascinating story is a moral challenge."
Bob Mondello of
NPR also praised Farhadi writing, "Consider[ing] how heavily censored filmmakers are in Iran, director Asghar Farhadi's accomplishment starts to seem downright astonishing". Mondello described the film as "a beautifully crafted [and] fascinating film". On 19 December 2011, Farhadi was announced as being a
jury member for the
62nd Berlin International Film Festival, which was held in February 2012. On 15 January 2012,
A Separation won the
Golden Globe for the Best Foreign Language Film. The film was also the official Iranian submission for the
Best Foreign Language Film at the
2012 Academy Awards where, in addition to being
nominated in this category, it was also nominated in the
Best Original Screenplay category. On 26 February 2012,
A Separation became the first Iranian movie to win the
Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, at the
84th Academy Awards. This marked Farhadi as the first Iranian to have won an
Academy Award in any competitive category. Farhadi also received praised for his film from
Steven Spielberg,
David Fincher,
Meryl Streep and
Woody Allen. He was invited to join the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012, along with 175 other members.
A Separation also won the
César Award for Best Foreign Film and the
Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film in 2012. and the cast of
The Past at the
2013 Cannes Film Festival In 2013, Farhadi's film
The Past starring
Bérénice Bejo and
Tahar Rahim was released. This would be Farhadi's first film in the French language. The film competed for the
Palme d'Or at the
2013 Cannes Film Festival. Bejo won the
Best Actress Award at Cannes for her performance in the film. The film received critical acclaim. It holds a 93% rating on
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes, based on 144 reviews with a
weighted average score of 8.2/10 and the site's consensus: "Beautifully written, sensitively directed, and powerfully acted,
The Past serves as another compelling testament to Asghar Farhadi's gift for finely layered drama." On
Metacritic, the film has a score of 85 out of 100 based on 41 reviews. The film received a
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was selected as the Iranian entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film at the
86th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. His 2016 film
The Salesman, starring
Shahab Hosseini and
Taraneh Alidoosti, competed for the
Palme d'Or at the
2016 Cannes Film Festival, where it won two awards:
Best Actor for Shahab Hosseini and
Best Screenplay for Farhadi. The film revolves around a married couple whose life is upended after the wife is
assaulted. The husband attempted to find the attacker while she struggles to cope with
post-traumatic stress. During this the husband attempts to perform
Arthur Miller's 1949 play
Death of a Salesman on stage. Farhadi chose Miller's play as his
story within a story based on shared themes. He also compared the film to the
George Stevens film
A Place in the Sun (1951). The film was a co-production between Iran and France, the film was shot in
Tehran, beginning in 2015. David Sims of
The Atlantic praised Farhadi writing, "Rather, he wants to explore the terrifying speed with which conflict can disrupt our mundane lives, and the unconscious need we possess to slip into more outsized roles." Sims added "
The Salesman is a typically wrenching film one that morphs from a quiet family drama to a low-key tale of revenge, and is all the more impressive for how seamlessly it executes that shift." '' (2016) On 26 February 2017, Farhadi won his second
Oscar for
Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for
The Salesman at the
89th Academy Awards.
The Salesman had already won the award for the
Best Screenplay at the
Cannes Film Festival. Following the then
President of the United States of America Donald Trump's
executive order barring Iranians from entering the country, Farhadi said he would not attend the 2017 Academy Awards, despite being nominated and winning for the best foreign-language film. He announced that two prominent Iranian Americans,
Anousheh Ansari and
Firouz Naderi would represent him in the ceremony. A few hours before the ceremony, he addressed a group of protesters in London via a video link from Iran. The Mayor of London,
Sadiq Khan, screened the movie publicly in
Trafalgar Square as a celebration of the city's diversity. "This solidarity is off to a great start", he told them. "I hope this movement will continue and spread, for it has within itself the power to stand up to fascism, be victorious in the face of extremism and say no to oppressive political powers everywhere." After winning the
Academy Award for the second time, Farhadi had a prepared statement read by
Anousheh Ansari. "I'm sorry I'm not with you tonight", Farhadi's statement read. "My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of the other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S. Dividing the world into us and our enemies categories creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war. These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries that have been victims of aggression. Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others -- an empathy that we need today more than ever." Before the ceremony, all five directors nominated for foreign language film issued a joint statement, obtained by
USA Today, that condemned "the climate of fanaticism and nationalism" in the United States, among other countries. The directors – Farhadi,
Maren Ade (
Toni Erdmann),
Hannes Holm (
A Man Called Ove),
Martin Zandvliet (
Land of Mine) and
Bentley Dean and
Martin Butler (
Tanna) – said that no matter which film wins, the Oscar is dedicated to "all the people, artists, journalists and activists who are working to foster unity and understanding, and who uphold freedom of expression and human dignity – values whose protection is now more important than ever."
2018–present ,
Penélope Cruz, Farhadi, and the cast of
Everybody Knows at the
2018 Cannes Film Festival In 2018, Farhadi directed his eighth feature film titled,
Everybody Knows starring
Javier Bardem,
Penélope Cruz and
Ricardo Darin. The film, a Spanish psychological thriller, debuted at the
71st Cannes Film Festival where it played in the competition for the
Palme d'Or. At the Toronto premiere of
Everybody Knows, the director shared with
Ikon London Magazine his plans to "Come to London West End with his play". He said "I know there is a lot of great plays every day. And I wish one day I do a play there. It is not far. It is our plan." The film has earned critical acclaim earning a 78% on
Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the two leads but adding that the film is below Farhadi's usually high standards.
A Hero is Farhadi's 9th feature film. Alexandre Mallet-Guy co-produced the work. This film was shot in
Marvdasht, Iran, and narrates a social theme. In this film,
Amir Jadidi,
Mohsen Tanabandeh,
Fereshteh Sadre Orafaee,
Sarina Farhadi and Sahar Goldoust play roles. The film was introduced as the representative of Iranian cinema on 20 October 2021, to compete in the 94th Academy Awards. In April 2022,
The Hollywood Reporter mistakenly reported that Farhadi had been found guilty, when in fact he was indicted by an Iranian court on charges of plagiarism for allegedly stealing the premise for
A Hero from an earlier documentary made by Azadeh Masihzadeh, a former film student of Farhadi. In October 2022,
The New Yorker published an article, which included more information about the case and exclusive interviews with those who had previously worked with Farhadi. In March 2024, an Iranian court issued a verdict acquitting Farhadi of the plagiarism allegations, based on the review by several
University of Tehran copyright law experts and other experts. On 3 February 2026, Farhadi was among several figures in the Iranian film industry who signed a statement supporting the
2025–2026 Iranian protests and condemning the
government's response to them. ==Themes==