Trump's Ban Will Force This Oscar-Nominated Iranian Director to Miss the Academy Awards

Asghar Farhadi's The Salesman was nominated for Best Foreign Film.

An executive order signed by President Trump has denied thousands of refugees, immigrants, and visitors from seven Muslim-majority nations the ability to enter the United States. One of those people is Oscar-nominated Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, who won't be able to attend the Oscars ceremony to support his own film on February 26th.

Farhadi, who won Best Foreign Film for A Separation in 2012, was invited to the ceremony after his psychological thriller The Salesman was nominated for the same category. However, Trump's 90-day ban on Iran will prevent him from being able to enter the country.

The Tribeca Film Festival team tweeted that the situation is "heartbreaking and unacceptable."

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"I see human beings as transcending politics, as transcending everything," Farhadi told Vox a few days after the election. "Everything that falls under the shadow of humans and respects humanity is acceptable to me, including politics. Where problems begin to arise is when their positions become switched. For instance, ideology ascends, and humanity falls below ideology, or politics are on top and humanity takes a lower position. When the places are switched in this way, then human beings are categorized, divided."

If only we could transcend this.

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