European Commission to honor Asghar Farhadi

TEHRAN,April 7(MNA) -- The European Commission announced on Wednesday that it plans to honor Oscar-winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi with the first EU MEDIA prize during the 65th Cannes Film Festival. Farhadi and producer Alexandre Mallet-Guy of Memento Films will receive the prize on May 20 for their new project, which will be shot in France in French in autumn. Set against the backdrop of modern day Paris, the film project, which is still untitled, will be about a love story between an Iranian girl and a boy of North African origin, Memento Films had previously said. The Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, which is a member of the European Commission, sponsors the prize. “I am proud to give this award to Mr. Farhadi today for this film project which has a strong cultural identity and illustrates the openness of European culture,” Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said in press release “After the worldwide success of his masterpiece ‘A Separation’, he gives us a project that is committed and moving in equal measure and above all draws on universality,” she added. The prize is part the MEDIA program for the period 2014-2020 entitled Creative Europe. The program is especially intended to help professionals work transnationally and use digital technologies in order to improve the circulation of films and other cultural works. “In these times, when certain politicians are trying to turn the beautiful rainbow of cultural diversity in the world into differences and confrontations, I believe that this MEDIA award for my next film project is a very encouraging sign,” Farhadi said. The MEDIA prize is awarded for the best project with box-office potential submitted by a screenwriter and a production company. The winner is chosen by independent experts from the European Commission and the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Farhadi’s films have been warmly welcomed in European international events. His “About Elly” won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2009. Two years later, his “A Separation” won a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. “A Separation” also received the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards in February 2012.