Iranians besieged the Oscars / Which film has the best chance?

With the presence of the works of Majid Majidi, Babak Khajepasha, Mehrdad Eskoui and Pegah Ahangarani in the Oscar 2027 competition, the names of Iranian cinematographers have been mentioned in several sections; But the lack of clear information about the broadcast schedule and international release of some films still leaves their final chance in a halo of uncertainty.

Sefir Arjan: With the presence of the works of Majid Majidi, Babak Khajepasha, Mehrdad Eskoui and Pegah Ahangarani in the 2027 Oscar competition, the names of Iranian cinematographers have been mentioned in several sections; But the lack of clear information about the broadcast schedule and international release of some films still leaves their final chance in a halo of uncertainty.

With Majid Majidi's film "Midday Food" reaching the Academy Awards, which was achieved after winning the Best Film Award at the Busan Festival, an interesting situation has developed for the name of Iran in the Oscar film competition, because several Iranian filmmakers are competing with each other in the two sections of fiction and documentary cinema.

The Oscars 2027 was first held last year after receiving the IDFA award for the documentary "The Fox and the Pink Moon" co-directed by Mehrdad Eskui and Soraya Ekhli, and hosted by an Iranian filmmaker. Of course, this film is a product of France, Denmark, Iran, and America, but Escui promotes it as an Iranian film and independently in the Oscar campaign.

Be sure to read: The brilliance of Iranian cinema in Rome / Which Iranian films were screened in Italy? Majid Majidi's film is on the direct path to Oscar 2027 / the possibility of the presence of two representatives from Iran

"The Fox and the Pink Moon", which was shortlisted for the European Academy Awards two nights ago, has appeared in more than 70 international festivals in the past months and has won more than 40 awards so far. The creators of this documentary, in cooperation with reputable broadcasters in the world, are making a serious effort to introduce the film to the members of the Oscar Academy, so that the film will be included in the Oscar shortlist in the first stage. "The Fox and the Pink Moon" has recently been accepted into the short list of the New York Documentary Festival, and it is said that this festival is one of the first opportunities to define the competition for the best Oscar documentary.

Of course, in the list of the European Academy, the name of the new and controversial documentary by Pegah Ahangarani "Exercises for a Revolution" can be seen. This documentary was produced on the website of the European Film Academy as a product of the Czech Republic and Spain, however, it is one of the serious competitors of the Oscar-winning film Scooby because it was chosen as the British representative at the Oscars.

But in fiction cinema, the film selection committee in Iran, which is formed at the Farabi Cinema Foundation, chose the film "The Land of Angels" this year to be a film by Babak Khajepasha for the second time as the official representative of Iranian cinema at the Oscars.

When the discussion of choosing a film to introduce to the Oscars was discussed, the name of Majid Majidi's latest film was also heard as one of the options, but in the informal conversations of some officials, there was the hope that Majidi would receive the first prize at the Busan festival so that he could go directly to the Oscars.

Of course, the predictions about Majidi's film finally came to fruition, and yesterday, this director's "Lunchtime Meal" received the best film award from the Busan Festival in South Korea, whose jury was chaired by Chinese Zhang Yimou. In this way, "Ghazai Nimroz", which was not present in the Cannes or Venice festivals in the past year, contrary to some rumors and efforts, finally made its way to the Oscar competition through Busan, as another work of Iranian cinema.

Although the presence of several films in the name of Iran can be evaluated as a positive event in its place, it should not be forgotten that the mechanism of competition in this field has its own complexities. In this direction, no plan for the cooperation of foreign broadcasters and international screenings has been published for Iranian fiction films, and it remains to be seen what Majid Majidi and Babak Khajepasha have in store for this year's competition from their previous experiences in introducing their films to the Oscars.