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After winning Oscar, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi has special guest read anti-Trump statement

'I am sorry I am not with you. My absence is out of respect for the people of my country.'

 

Kahron Spearman

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Posted on Feb 26, 2017   Updated on May 24, 2021, 10:32 pm CDT

After winning his second best foreign language film award for The Salesman, Asghar Farhadi’s statue was accepted in absentia—due to his publicized boycott of the Oscars in the name of President Trump’s travel ban.

But not before a politically charged statement from the lauded Iranian director was read by Anousheh Ansari, the first Iranian in space and first self-funded woman to fly to the International Space Station. Firouz Naderi, a former NASA director, also represented Farhadi onstage.

“I am sorry I am not with you. My absence is out of respect for the people of my country,” it read.

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*First Published: Feb 26, 2017, 11:13 pm CST