Movies & Series

Plagiarism: Asgar Farhad pleaded guilty to a hero for the film

April 5, 2022
9:30 AM

A Tehran court has found multi-award winning Iranian director Asgar Farhad guilty of plagiarism in his latest film A Hero. The filmmaker would take key elements from Azad Masihzadeh’s documentary, All the Winners, All the Losers, one of his former film students.

A Hero, released in our cinemas last December, won the Grand Prix at the last Cannes Film Festival. The film, shot by Amir Jadid, Mohsen Tanabandeh and Fereshteh Sadr Orafay, tells the story of Rahim, a man arrested for a debt he could not repay. During the two-day leave, he tries to persuade the creditor to file a complaint for payment of part of the amount. But everything does not go as planned …

The verdict is final and Asgar Farhad’s sentence is due soon. The director may be forced to hand over Azad Masihzadeh.All proceeds from movie theaters or online screenings“And he could even be sentenced to imprisonment.

To date, A Hero has grossed about $ 2.5 million on a theatrical scale.

Amir Jadid in the hero

Asgar Farhadi admitted that his film is based on the same true story as All Winners All Losers, Which Masihzade developed as a student in a documentary studio headed by a director.

In an interview with AlloCiné to promote the film in Cannes, the director explained:Eight or nine years ago I taught in a film studio, as I often do. And as a simple educational project, I offered to divide my students into groups of two or three, and I personally shared with them some of these stories that I mentioned in the press. I also asked them to find others and do small subjects in these types of courses.

But, there again did not go beyond the framework of reflection and educational approach. Only later, when I returned from Spain after shooting the film, on my return to Iran, did I tell myself that this concept, this topic that had been on my mind and interested me for years, deserved more attention. “Write a story that has this theme in mind.”

Asgar Farhadi did not admit to stealing his student’s idea and claimed that he had conducted his own research on this true story.

Farhadi sued Masihzadeh for defamation, and the latter counterattacked by the fact that the Oscar-winning filmmaker split in 2012 and the client in 2017 plagiarized his work. An Iranian court has considered both cases in favor of Azad Masihzadeh, dismissed the defamation case and found Farhad guilty of plagiarism.

Source: allocine

Emily

Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.