The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Nominees to give best foreign-language film Oscar to ‘unity’
AS CELEBRITIES gathered in Beverly Hills to rally for immigration rights, the six directors, whose movies have been nominated for best foreign-language film at this year’s Oscars, have said that no matter who picks up the Oscar, the golden statuette would be dedicated to those working toward unity, symbolically rejecting the borders that define their category’s nominees.
“Regardless of who wins the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film on Sunday, we refuse to think in terms of borders. We believe there is no best country, best gender, best religion or best colour. We want this award to stand as a symbol of the unity between nations.”
The group includes Asghar Farhadi, the Iranian director of “The Salesman”, who in the wake of the travel ban on seven countries said he would boycott the Academy Awards ceremony in protest. The other signatories were Martin Zandvliet (‘Land of Mine’), Hannes Holm (‘A Man Called Ove’), Maren Ade (‘Toni Erdmann’) and Martin Butler and Bentley Dean (‘Tanna’).
“The fear generated by dividing us into genders, colours, religions and sexualities as a means to justify violence destroys the things that we depend on — not only as artists but as humans: the diversity of cultures, the chance to be enriched by something seemingly “foreign” and the belief that human encounters can change us for the better. These divisive walls prevent people from experiencing something simple but fundamental: from discovering that we are all not so different,” the statement read.
At the ‘United Voices’ rally, Jodie Foster, Michael J Fox and Keegan-michael Key were among the speakers, organised outside by the United Talent Agency’s Beverly Hills headquarters. Key said the event was intended to “support the creative community’s growing concern with anti-immigration sentiment in the United States of America and its potential chilling effect on the global exchange of ideas, not to mention freedom of expression”. He welcomed all, including a handful of Trump supporters, because “this is America, where you get to believe what you want”.
One Trump supporter walked through the crowd in a Make America Great Again hat early on saying, “You’re not going to block me.”
Fox, who became a United States citizen some 20 years ago, remembered being annoyed at the eight-year process to citizenship and now wonders what he was complaining about.
Turning immigrants away, Fox said, is an “assault on human dignity”. One of the bestreceived was Jodie Foster, who enthusiastically yelled, “This is a great idea! Why didn’t I think of this?”
“It’s time to show up,” she said. “It’s a singular time in history. It’s time to engage. And as the very, very dead Frederick Douglass once said, ‘Any time is a good time for illumination’.”
Farhadi spoke via video from Tehran to praise the show of unity among the cinema community. “It is comforting to know that at a time when some politicians are trying to promote hate by creating divisions between cultures, religions and nationalities, the cinema community has joined the people in a common show of unity to announce its opposition,” Farhadi said.