Prominent Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi's latest drama A Hero has received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It is the only film from the Middle East to receive a nomination. It competes with Russia's Compartment No. 6, Japan's Drive My Car, Italy's The Hand of God and Spain's Parallel Mothers.
The drama, the fourth by Farhadi, had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year where it won the Grand Prix. It is also Iran’s official Oscar entry for 2022 and will be released in US theaters on January 7 before it launches online on Amazon Prime Video on January 21.
The film follows the story of Rahim (Amir Jadidi), a family man who is imprisoned because of a debt that he is unable to repay. When on a two-day leave from prison, he tries to convince his creditor to cancel the complaint against him, but events then spiral out of control.
Farhadi is a two-time Oscar-winner. In 2012, his film A Separation won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, becoming the first Iranian film to win the award. In 2017, he won the Academy Award again for The Salesman.
Last month, the filmmaker wrote a strongly worded open letter on his social media account, rejecting comments that described him as pro-government.
“If your introduction of my film for the Oscars has led you to the conclusion that I am in your debt, I am explicitly declaring now that I have no problem with you reversing this decision. I no longer care about the fate of the film that I made with all my heart. Whether in or outside Iran, this movie will live on its merits," Farhadi wrote.
He will be honoured with Variety's Creative Impact in Directing Award as part of its annual "10 Directors to Watch" at the Palm Springs film festival, which takes places at the Palm Springs Convention Centre and runs until January 17.
Farhadi will be recognised for A Hero as well as his entire body of work, which includes A Separation, The Salesman and Everybody Knows.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Turkish Ladies
Various artists, Sony Music Turkey
INDIA SQUADS
India squad for third Test against Sri Lanka
Virat Kohli (capt), Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Vijay Shankar
India squad for ODI series against Sri Lanka
Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon
Rating:*****
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
