Date 30/01/2017 - News People
Iranian director Asghar Farhadi will not be attending the Oscars, even though his film, The Salesman is nominated for best foreign film. Farhadi told The New York Times that he had planned on attending the Academy Awards on February 26, but changed his mind in the wake of President Donald Trump's visa ban, which included bans from Iran and several other predominantly Muslim countries. In a statement released by Farhadi, he called the ban an "us and them mentality." He went on to say, "Instilling fear in the people is an important tool used to justify extremist and fanatic behavior by narrow-minded individuals."