SNA (Mashhad) — When Iranian director Ashgar Farhadi was awarded the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for his new film A Hero, many regime opponents expected him to use the media spotlight to denounce the Islamic Republic. What he actually had to say, however, disappointed their expectations.

Even before his latest honor, Farhadi had become one of Iran’s most celebrated contemporary film directors. He had previously received two Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film for his films A Separation (2011) and The Salesman (2016).

Opponents of the Islamic Republic had reason to believe that Farhadi would utilize the occasion to make a strong political declaration. After all, on the eve of the event he had been quoted by Variety magazine as saying “Iran is a repressive country where you have no freedom to speak up and say what you think.”

However, at his official Cannes press conference, he instead denied that he had used the word “repressive” in his interview with Variety. He suggested that they may have mistranslated his phrase fazay-e basteh, literally denoting “a confined space.”

Variety, however, has not accepted Farhadi’s critique and has not changed the phrasing on its website.

During the press conference itself, Farhadi was challenged by an Iranian reporter who demanded to know why he cast Amir Jadidi in the lead role when that actor had recently appeared in other films that were funded by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

“Actors are actors,” the director shot back. “I do not check my actors’ backgrounds or their attitudes toward life. Anyone outside of my work space can think whatever they like.”

The closest Farhadi came to any kind of political statement at Cannes press was to say, “I hope to continue forward amidst all the problems and pressures because I believe one of the most important ways to contribute to the rescue of my country is to heighten awareness.”

This was far short of what regime opponents had demanded. They were expecting a full-throated denunciation of the incumbent government.

Some noted, for example, that in 2019 Mexican film director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu had used the spotlight of Cannes to attack the concept of building a wall between the United States and Mexico, which was a key priority for then-US President Donald Trump. Other examples abound.

Farhadi’s response to this demand was to say, “I am a filmmaker, not a political activist, so I address the social issues indirectly.”

In the wake of his performance at Cannes, Farhadi himself faced a wave of protests from regime opponents, attacked on social media and even on the IMDb website–so much so that IMDb ended up removing the public rating option from his celebrated film, A Hero.

Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rassoulof rebuked Farhadi’s statements in Cannes and tweeted, “If we lose our sensitivity and argue that an actor is an actor, then we turn ourselves into objects. With your argument, Mr. Farhadi, Eichmann was just a soldier who fulfilled his duties.”

Other observers have speculated that Farhadi may be responding to material incentives. His films have made a good deal of money in Iran’s theaters, and he recently received a filming permit from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. These critics suggest that Farhadi is not interested in biting the hand that feeds him.

The fact of the matter, however, is that Farhadi is under attack from both sides.

Due to his movies’ subjects and their implied social criticisms, many pro-regime conservatives and hardliners in Iran have denounced him as being “pro-West.” They have argued that global praise of Farhadi at international film festivals is largely due to the fact that he presents an overly negative image of contemporary Iran in his movies.

On the other hand, as we have seen, dissident groups feel that Farhadi doesn’t go nearly far enough in criticizing the regime. They want him to take a path similar to that of film director Jafar Panahi, who supported the Green Movement (the 2009-2010 protests against then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) and has been under house arrest in Iran since that time.

In short, both sides are demanding that Ashgar Farhadi become a hero himself–either a hero for the regime or a hero for the opposition. The man himself, however, does not want to play the role of hero, but rather that of artist and film director.

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