An Iranian official has publicly called for a boycott of this year’s Oscars, saying Iran shouldn’t offer a candidate for best foreign language film unless the Academy denounces Nakoula B. Nakoula’s Innocence of Muslims “film.” And it wasn’t just any official, it was the head of the Iranian government-controlled cinema agency. Iran of course won last year’s foreign-language Oscar for Asghar Farhad’s A Separation, which they promptly used to enrich uranium. They said it was for peaceful purposes, but the guy was rolling his eyes and making bomb noises with his mouth while he said it, so who knows.
Javad Shamaghdari, head of the government-controlled cinema agency, said Iran should “avoid” the Hollywood festival. He is quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as urging the committee in charge of selecting Iran’s choice to take a step back.
The committee, which works under the cinema agency, already picked “Ye Habbeh Ghand,” or “A Cube of Sugar” — a film about a family wedding turning into a funeral when the groom’s relative dies — to run for best foreign film.
The government has still to endorse the selection for it to become official.
Shamaghdari said the Oscars should be boycotted until the organizers denounce the anti-Islam film entitled “Innocence of Muslims,” which has prompted outrage among Muslims around the world. At least 51 people, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, have been killed in violence linked to protests over the film, which also has renewed debate over freedom of expression in the U.S. and in Europe.
Shamaghdari has in the past been known for his calls to “deprive” Western film festivals of movies made by the Iranian cinema industry. [AssociatedPress]
To recap, this guy wants the Academy to publicly condemn an obscure film no one has seen and that may not even exist because it denigrates his culture, or else he’s going to keep us from seeing good films created by and for his countrymen that we want to watch and help publicize. HAHA, COOL PLAN, BRO. But screw it, why not condemn the thing? We risk nothing by denouncing a definitely crappy, probably non-existent film. YEAH, MAN, INNOCENCE OF MUSLIMS SUCKS! And while we’re at it, f*ck those dick-shrinking warlocks and the crop-mold gnomes too! I powder rhino horn in their general direction! Here we try to have a nice award show, and some menstruating wood sprite has to come along blight our wheat crops. It’s a shame.