"Monday Morning, 27 February 2012" "It was about 4 in the morning when we were watching the city from the roof top." "We didn't expect to see so many houses with their lights on." "That night Asghar Farhadi got the first Oscar for the Iranian Cinema." "This event was so important for the people that they waited up until dawn to watch the ceremony." "And this town woke up and it was an excuse for us to make this film." "From Iran:" "A Separation" "A film by:" "Azadeh Mousavi, Kourosh Attaee" "It's better to begin the film in Iran." "Our country is located in the Middle East and has more than 7000 years of history." "You know where the Middle East is?" "The place where it is full of oil and gas, and of course, ...our neighboring countries are all quite and calm." "Of course the events that take place around Iran are not that quiet either, ...especially in the days leading to the Oscar..." "We'll tell you about it later, ...let's deal with A Separation." "On a quiet summer day in September 2010 Asghar Farhadi began shooting his film." "Asghar Farhadi (Filmmaker):" "The commencement of A Separation was very bizarre." "I remember I had gone to Berlin with my family over the Norouz holidays." "We were supposed to make a movie in Berlin based on a script written by Mr. Maadi and I." "You know Mr. Maadi played in A Separation." "We made plans and we talked with the producer for a while and I went to Berlin and to see the ambiance and stay there work on the script in order to finish it." "We were to pre-produce it." "One day I was standing by the window in the kitchen of my friend's house." "I think I was drinking tea and thinking about the script." "Suddenly I heard a song from the next room." "It was a new version of an old Iranian song which I loved very much." "I forgot about the script as I was pretty deep in the music." "I went to the other room and listened to the song." "When it was over I felt that my mind was empty of the script that we were supposed to work on in Berlin." "It was as if that song had wiped out everything in my mind." "The first thing I asked myself was what I was doing there?" "Why was I in Berlin?" "Why did I want to make the film?" "I felt that I had no motivation to make that film." "Anyway, ...a couple of days after that song, I was back in Tehran." "I went to my office the next day after my arrival in Tehran." "I brewed some tea as usual and sat behind my desk to make notes of my idea." "The first note that I made was about this image, ...a memory that my elder brother had once told me." "I had a grandfather that I lost a few years ago." "I had spent a great deal of my childhood with him." "My brother told me that one day he decided to bathe my grandfather." "When he was washing him, ...the feelings that came over him were so unbelievable that he hugged our grandfather and started crying." "The image of a young lad in a bathroom putting his head on an old man's shoulder and crying was very touching and I thought this could be the beginning." "No-one can argue that everyone likes to hear a beautiful story." "In my opinion in A Separation, ...what I took from a big and successful movie in the world is first of all to know that we are telling a story that everyone likes to hear." " I swear if..." " Get out..." " Don't touch me sir!" " I said get out!" "Shahab Hosseini (playing the role of Hodjat):" "The concern was so important to me that I felt as if I was Hodjat's attorney and it was my duty to defend him in the court the next day." "He hit my wife, killed my child." "I've lost my life;" "You're scaring me of imprisonment?" "There were so many like Hodjat out there." "...or I'll find out what your story is with the husband of this woman." "You either come to court and say that you lied" "It's a reflection of the society:" "A true reflection without any playact or aiming for the box office hit like a tourism attraction for foreigners." "I'm taking Shajarian's CD." "You get to empathize with all the characters in the movie and you believe that they are all right." "Newspaper headline:" "The end of a much-discussed movie." "The much-discussed movie of Farhadi came to an end." "This is the Fajr Film Festival." "The premiere screening of A Separation was at this festival." "This queue is for A Separation." "We had to wait in line for hours on a cold winter night." "We have been here since 6 in the morning." "There's supposed to be an extra show so we could buy tickets." "If they do so!" "Some people have queued up since last night." "No, not since last night, since 8 yesterday morning." "Since 8 yesterday morning." "You mean you've queued up for 2 days?" " Yes, it's been 2 days." " For what?" "For Farhadi's film." "Newspaper Headline:" "People slept on the street while lining up for Farhadi's film." "A Separation:" "A film by Asghar Farhadi." "How was the movie?" "It was wonderful a masterpiece... a masterpiece..." "a masterpiece a humanitarian film and totally meaningful the subject made you think and when you start thinking it means the film was effective." "We voted for A Separation." "A Separation as the Audience Favorite Film..." "A Separation won the Crystal Simorghs for the Best Director," "Best Script, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Recorder, ...and Diplomas of Honour for the Best Actor in a Supporting Role and the Best Actress in a Supporting Role." "But the jury didn't select the film as the best film." "Asghar Farhadi was not present at the ceremony." "That's why A Separation was able to achieve such unprecedented awards." "Along with the Fajr Festival, the Berlin Film Festival was also taking place, where A Separation was able to achieve the Golden Berlin Bear for the Best Film, ...the Silver Berlin Bears for all the actresses and actors." "Asghar I'm yours truly!" "The film was screened in Norouz 2011." "Everybody had heard something about the film." "It has a good name..." "Bijan and I don't know something like that a man and a woman's name..." "And this gentleman seems to have heard more things." "I've heard about the film but unfortunately I haven't seen it." "I know the story..." "It's about a married couple, ...the husband has a father I think his father is ill he can't walk or something." "The son is looking after his father and he bathes him." "The Wife is OK With it, I think, ...if I'm right with the father to stay with them, ...but she likes to go abroad for some reasons!" "The reasons are not clear in the film but anyone who watches the film will find out!" "I think everybody saw some part of themselves in the movie." "All these children live in this country you mean none of them have a future ma'am?" "I prefer my child not to be raised in such conditions," " ...as a mother I have this right." " What conditions?" "What conditions lady?" "Simin was right too, the future of her child..." "What's wrong with our culture, why does she want to take her abroad and get her to know the foreign culture?" "We have to be after a better life for our children." "I'm worried about the future of my daughter in this country too..." "Why?" "What's wrong with this country?" "Do they have as much history and civilization as we do?" "She's not leaving in order to ruin things or for pleasure." "She is immigrating to evaluate another situation and build a better life." "I haven't found a solution but this is what she found." " I swear..." "I..." " Lady..." "This is my bag sir..." "Why are doing this?" "I swear to God I didn't pass this threshold..." " Lady, get out..." " You're saying I..." " Lady, get out..." " What have I done?" " Lady, get out!" " Don't touch me sir!" "OK, I won't touch you." "Get out then!" "Please lady, let yourself out." "I won't leave until I get my money." "It interprets the Iranian society with a couple of characters." "The Iranian society which is in transit from a traditional society to a modern one but has not digested the modern concepts." "For the first time it presented a realistic view of the middle class city dwellers that is the majority of the society." "It's the confrontation of modernity, tradition and religion in Iran and it is not clear what the result would be." "How much is his daily income?" "How much does he profit daily?" "What do we do?" "You lied." "What?" "You lied." "About what?" "It's interesting; we would pay to watch being criticized in the theater." "Because we lie a lot to each other." "In my opinion this film is totally religious." "What does our religion say?" "We are Muslims." "Most of us are Shiites." "Our Islam says that we have to have each other's back." "Help a sick person." "We have to be each other's ally in the most difficult situations." "It's bad to lie in Islam." "If you have to choose between getting into trouble and be disgraced but not lie, you should not lie." "His creditors are sitting here!" "Please don't disgrace him!" "I won't swear." "She didn't swear on the Koran in order to get money in return." "Well, what is your decision young lady?" "Your parents want you to decide." "Now that they are separating who do you want to live with?" "You want to be with your Dad or your Mom?" "Have you decided or not?" "Yes." "This girl will live with her father." "It will let the audience to judge because it hasn't reached a result yet." "She will pick her mother." "In fact there is no choosing in a way." "This is a hard pick." "You don't know which one to pick." "In my opinion Termeh represents a generation:" "A generation which is on the road to ruin because of the stubbornness and deep hatred and nobody pays attention to it." "This is the way the people supported the film." "This is the third time I'm watching the film." "I saw it twice when it was screened publicly." "This was my first time but I think I can watch it two more times." "I've seen it trice." "I watched it twice..." "Four times and A Separation earned billions." "The film had drawn the attention of the Iranian Cinema critics very much." "There was almost no newspaper or magazine that had not published an article on A Separation." "The opinions weren't all positive." "The whole film is explaining the mother's message that here is not a place to live and I want to take my child." "If this is what the film is about, ...I have more serious debates about it." "Mr. Farasati, TV fixed and trustworthy critic..." "A Separation is a weak mediocre film..." " ...that justifies lies..." " Weak or mediocre?" "Weak..." "average weak we have average weak it justifies lies and talks about leaving Iran." "Some newspapers considered it an anti-Iranian movie." "Thankful I mean I want to say what kind of terms they are teaching our children..." "The film was debated about at religious places too." "Hard Arabic words..." "It means you saved us from the westerners and handed us over to the Arabs?" "The interesting thing is that he lands in prison and when he gets out, ...Simin of the opposition, says I brought you out." "If it weren't for my pressures you would have stayed in prison." "This is an exact sarcasm that western and foreign pressures lead to the release of some prisoners." "The debate was serious among people." "You know how it portrayed the Iranian society a veiled woman who is weak, is a maid but civilized women whose hijab are... well who live among a certain class, have the right!" "Why Ma'am?" "No..." "listen." "Of course it was doing the exact thing." "The people who are from a poor background, are religious, are weak, ...and their men are nervous, they hit their women..." "Rich men are nervous too..." "Mr. Peyman Maadi..." "No, he was shown as a logical person..." "No, he was nervous too but..." "He seemed very rational..." "very civilized and logical." "In your opinion, is it unrealistic?" "Really!" "Is it like this in our society, is it?" "But it showed in the film that the woman who was wearing the chador didn't touch anything in the house." "That was a positive thing." "If she was not civilized, she could have done the opposite." "Why don't you look at it this way?" "Our points of views are different." "No, it showed this." "But on the other side what was it magnifying?" "The fact that she didn't take the money was much more magnified than the fact that she was beaten up by her husband." "She didn't take the money;" "She could have in the last moment..." "You mean this is what it was magnifying;" "...you mean it focused on this matter?" "No... it was never like that!" "Lady, what does cinema mean?" "Cinema is able to magnify things so they could be observed." "Exactly..." "this was its message this is what art means..." "But Mr. Farhadi's aim was not this, ...A Separation's goal was not this." "...His previous film, About Elly, said the same thing." "It was gradually, as they say, normalizing it." "A married woman who is committed can have other relationships." "Lady, do you accept the truth in the society, in Iran?" "Well yeah... we see that..." "I'm a university professor..." "There's mosque, there's chador..." "God bless you... there's mosque, ...there's chador, there's forced heaven." "Stand here and you'll see." "The forced heaven is here too." "You want to deny the truth existing in the society?" "What sort of a society do we have?" "Islamic Republic of Iran!" "Mr. Farhadi has respectfully broken some of the norms in the Islamic Republic of Iran." "Will it not extenuate the issue?" "It wouldn't extenuate the issue?" " No Ma'am, why would it?" " No what for?" "It wouldn't extenuate the issue?" "It will gradually happen." "When they make programs on addiction and AIDS and broadcast it on the TV, does it extenuate the matter?" " No, that's different." " It's informative." "They're just being informative..." "no, what difference does it make?" " Well, as a Muslim woman, well..." " We're all Muslims lady." "None of us are non-Muslims." "No, I'm not saying that I'm the only Muslim and the rest are not but I don't agree with this point of view..." "I don't..." "Well that's your personal opinion I mean I think that if you want to criticize it from the Islamic point of view, it really should be criticized." "As they say, I..." "It was the Islamic code and boundary." "Don't say this lady." "We all have a reputation." "We are all Muslims." "We are not against the Islamic Republic of Iran." "That's not the point." "No, unfortunately we don't like certain taboos, ...debates over this film continued in various forms..." "And now the topic of selecting a film to represent Iran in the Oscar!" "As usual the Farabi Cinema Foundation gathered a number of cinematic figures behind closed doors and they started selecting a film." "Outside that room the debates over the selection of a film was very hot." "Some believed that the best selection was A Separation and some were against it." "The people followed up the subject and they would vote for this film at the polls." "Even on the facebook..." "(Access to this site is denied)" "Wait yes, even here a page was set up in support of the film." "Now everyone was waiting for the election committee and finally A Separation was chosen." "Of course a few days later Mr. Shamaghdari, ...the Cinematic Deputy of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance said:" ""Oscar is not that important..."" ""...and it is similar to our Gachsaran Cinema Ceremony!"" "Gachsaran is a small city in the south of Iran with the population of 130'000." "There is only one movie theatre which was closed a few years ago!" "Unfortunately we couldn't find anything on this ceremony!" "A Separation never returned home empty handed after participating in various festivals." "Peyman Maadi:" "We were sitting at the Golden Globe when we saw Madonna take the floor and I said to myself Jesus Christ!" "What should we do with her?" "It's not easy for an Iranian filmmaker to participate in foreign festivals." "There are rules as follows:" "Behavior manners:" "You shouldn't do anything bad." "Verbal manners:" "You shouldn't say anything bad." "Dressing manners:" "Which is divided into men and women:" "You shouldn't wear anything bad, ...that it depends on who gives you the award." "Something else which is really important is..." "The successes of A Separation would strengthen the film in the Iranian Cinema and among it's fans but at the same time it would make the ones who were against the film angrier." "Some believed that the western mafia was involved Farhadi didn't observe the manners for participating in the festival when A Separation received the award it was like as if a thief had received the award..." "And some..." "Alireza Sadjadpour:" "Whether these festivals give awards or not, ...either way it is based on inartistic and non-cultural reasons." "Jamal Shoorjeh (Filmmaker):" "Any way, ...this is a shortcoming that some of our filmmakers who are good filmmakers are subdued by the West and are indifferent to the interests and taste of their own society." "Sadjadpour:" "This is completely politicized and we consider them to have no artistic and cultural aspects." "Policy determines who the winners are." "Shoorjeh:" "I don't recall any films over the past 3 decades which have brought honour, ...power, beautification and grandeur for Iran and to have participated in these festivals." "In the middle of all this A Separation got nominated for the Best Script and Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscar." "This took place during the time when more sanctions were imposed on Iran." "Israel was constantly threatening Iran and 5+1 would meet regularly news on Iran was very worrying." "In this higgledy-piggledy world situation, ...the name of Iran was being raised through its cinema and we were all waiting for the Oscar night." "The TV would not broadcast the ceremony." "We had to find a way to watch the Oscar." "Some people were sharing the frequency of the networks that would broadcast the ceremony." "And finally the Oscar night arrived..." "The people have to judge, the girl..." "It will win, the script, I really believe..." "Give the Oscar to him!" "Hopefully Asghar Farhadi..." "And it was about 4 in the morning when the ceremony began..." "I'm saying it's not going to win." " No, see, it won all the awards." " Not that it is not going to win..." "If it wasn't supposed to win, ...it wouldn't have received so many awards..." "That night a lot of us had gathered together." "This is me!" "And this is me!" "Quite, if you are bored we can change the channel." " No, I'll get it myself." " Be quite!" "Enough, we want to hear..." "Wow it is so beautiful." "Peyman Maadi:" "I think it took 2 minutes for Sandra Bullock to come onto the stage." "I was nervous." "I mean I could feel all the stress that I hadn't felt throughout the year, coming over me." "Leila Hatami:" "In fact all the Iranians were watching us on their TVs." "It was a collective anticipation and was not only about one movie." "Peyman Maadi:" "Until I thought what if we don't win the award, what will happen then?" "Then I thought what can we say to these people?" "Hurry up Yassi..." "She's speaking in German..." "Be quite for a minute man, let's listen." "You don't understand German." "You don't even understand the subtitles." "A group of Iranians in the US" "A group of Iranians in Canada..." "A group of Iranians in Germany" "Sit down quickly, this is it!" "We'll get it, we will, rest assured." "Wow..." "Wow I can't believe it." "He didn't shake hands with her!" "He didn't." "Greetings to the good people of my homeland." "He spoke in Farsi..." "my dear..." "He's crying." "Cool... cool..." "He won the award..." "The next day, ...all the papers were covering the Oscar news and people were sending congratulatory texts." "Many people were sending congratulatory texts to each other." "Some were distributing pastry in the streets." "Some people had decorated their cars!" "Babak Karimi (playing the role of the judge):" "Something special thing happened to this film." "Imagine everyone watching a football match and the play is taking place in the field." "Suddenly the ball is kicked towards the spectators who keep the ball." "The game stops and the play takes place among the spectators." "From a point on the film belonged to the people." "I was delighted." "I cried it is as if I had won the award myself!" "It was really great." "Al last an Iranian was able to." "It gave a special energy to all Iranians." "Everyone was awake, like when they are awake early in the morning when the Iranian year changes, ...when people call each other at that exact moment and congratulate each other." "The network was busy and you couldn't even send texts." "I get goose bumps when I talk." "It was really a national honor, it was an honor..." "It brings tears to the eyes." "Everyone at our company was served pastry." "He went and got the award, which was a positive point for the Iranian nation." "The film that received the Oscar, ...Farhad..." "Simin's Separation from I don't know who the film that received this thing in Europe yeah, I heard about it." "Yeah, the man got it, I liked it, I was so happy." "I was watching it on the TV when he was receiving the award on the stage." "It's an honor for our country, for the Iranians." "I told my friends that I have been proud to be an Iranian 3 times in my life." "When Khodadad Azizi scored a goal when we were playing vs. the Australians, ...and the third time when we received the academy award." "We went to see what the experts thought about it." "Bah man Farmanara (Filmmaker):" "The good thing about Asghar is that he was able to get a permit here, ...he made his film and was able to screen it and gain billions." "Even though he had no support when the film was being screened, ...and it's all because the people supported the movie and then the world joined the Iranian people." "It's because when you 100% become a national figure, ...then you turn into an international one." "Nasser Fakouhi (Sociologist):" "The amount of happiness in Iran was much more than when a French movie or a Brazilian movie would receive an Oscar." "This shows the need of a people who want their identity or prestige to be acknowledged by others." "Abbas Abdi (Journalist  Political Analyst):" "The importance of the Oscar is that it is an American award, ...at a time when there is a tension between Iran and America, ...a tension at its highest peak even more than the beginning of the Revolution." "Therefore when such an event takes place, ...knowledge is formed between the two societies from culture which as a rule can help with the reduction of this tension." "Saeed Aghighi (Cinema Critic):" "This film basically presents a new social portrait of Iran to the world and to the Iranian society." "Imagine years ago when Samira Makhmalbaf's film The Blackboard was displayed in foreign country and the most famous critic called "A Portrait of Iran" was written about it, ...whereas this film had no signs of the urban life in Iran in it." "A generation was depicted that was basically not seen, ...not present in the movies and not heard of." "The middle-class of Iran who has complicated concerns for life and tries to fend for itself." "And we had another reason to be happy." "When I saw how he talked about the Iranians being peace lovers I was really happy." "I couldn't sit on the couch and was just jumping up and down." "He was really great." "He informed the audience that the Iranians are not after guns, ...tanks and shrapnel and we can talk about other stuff but unfortunately we don't have a media for expressing them." "It was as if he was representing the whole nation meaning that we are not warmongers, ...the people who say that we are terrorists." "Kiumars Pourahmad (Filmmaker):" "He had two little golden opportunities at the Golden Globe and the Oscar and he turned both of them into two little golden opportunities for the people of Iran." "Rakhshan Bani-Etemad (Filmmaker):" "In my opinion, ...we wouldn't have been able to send the peace message that Farhadi sent out to the world from that podium from the UN podium." "Of course some people expected Farhadi to express other things." "But if it were me I would have criticized a bit more." "Farhadi was very stiff." "I never expected Farhadi's attitude to be that way." "I wish he was more relaxed, it was as if he was under pressure." "Dr. Sadegh Ziba Kalam" "(Political Analyst and Faculty Member of the University of Tehran):" "I think that he had said to himself what I should say if I do win the Oscar Award." "I should say something that is not too cliché, ...something that when I return to Iran they wouldn't arrest me for it." "I should say something to be able to return to Iran." "At the same time it shouldn't be something to turn the people off, ...the people who are expressing their feelings for me." "Therefore I should say something, ...I should say that violence is not acceptable in Iran, ...not everyone is after violence, ...that Iran has a rich culture, ...things that would express a part in each of us." "I think that if this was his own idea or others had told him what to say, ...it was very rational." "Mr. Farhadi how come you said that the Iranians are peace loving people?" "When I went on different trips to various parts of the world for A Separation," "I felt that the idea of a war with Iran was serious and dangerous." "The questions that were asked in the interviews always lead to what my opinion was on the future, ...would the war break out." "I felt that this issue is very serious and the Iranian and the foreign politicians were playing the tug of war, ...each pulling the rope toward themselves." "The people's opinion that they do not want war was not taken into consideration." "The Fars News Agency reflected Farhadi's speech this way:" "Despite the enmity of the West, ...the people of Iran attach value to the nuclear program for all cultures." "When Mr. Farhadi was questioned in the press conference after the Oscar ceremony about what he thought the reaction of the Iranian government would be to his award, he said that the Iranian government was not a uniform government." "The things that happened for this film before, ...some were really against and some were happy for the film." "Some were quiet, some were happy;" "There are different kinds of people in the establishment." "Well, according to Mr. Farhadi's sayings we divide the reactions into 3 categories:" "The upset ones, ...the quiet ones, ...the happy ones." "Kayhan Newspaper was among the upset ones." "This paper was writing for some time in a column called "A Separation:" "Farhadi and the Iranian People", ...criticizing the Academy Award and Farhadi." "The second category is the quiet ones." "Many people believe that the IRIB belonged to this category but we consider the IRIB among those who talked little of this event." "Because it covered the event in its early morning news but said nothing about it at the other times when many viewers were watching the news." "The Iranian film A Separation won the Oscar award." "At this ceremony A Separation won the Best Foreign Language Film defeating a film from the Zionist regime." "And unfortunately people hadn't seen anything." "Unfortunately we didn't hear anything about him in the IRIB, this was an honor." "I saw it on the satellite TV channel, ...it was treated indifferently here." "Newspapers, the TV, not all!" "The people turned into a media whereas the media did nothing." "The third category is the happy ones." "Mr. Shamaghdari said in his congratulatory message:" ""The American judgment bowed to the Iranian culture..."" ""...and the voters at the Oscar Academy..."" ""...showed different reactions despite the fact..."" ""...that the Zionists are lobbying for war."" ""This crack is the beginning of the collapse of the Israeli..."" ""...influence in the US."" "We will now listen to what Mr. Sadjadpour had to say..." "In practice everyone saw that the cinematic management supported the film at the local and foreign film festivals." "Despite the reluctance we introduced the film to the Oscar and supported it." "The last few days before the ceremony we did our best so that the film would not be denied its rights." "We threatened them, I threatened them myself." "I told them that if the film doesn't receive an award we will disclose, ...they will be disgraced, ...we will show that they are unjust and things like that." "We should mention in parenthesis that some time later Mr. Shamaghdari said:" ""The President ordered me to globalize the Iranian Cinema..." ""...and we lobbied and got the Oscar!"" "And we must mention that the following year the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance boycotted the Oscar over an insulting film on Prophet Mohammad." "The days that followed the Oscar, ...there was a debate whether Farhadi would come back to Iran or not." "There was a headline that he had immigrated to France with his family and they were having fun and things like this." "He'll come back, ...if I were him I would come back." "I don't think that the situation is in his favor for him to come back to Iran." "I think that he'll come back." "No-one can tell whether he will come back or not but hopefully he will." "Even though Farhadi had not talked about the date of his return to Iran but on Friday 09 March, ...it was all over the internet that Farhadi would return to Iran on that night." "Mr. Farhadi how come you decided to return to Iran unannounced?" "To be honest, ...the reason was that I didn't want the people who had hindered the production process of my films and other filmmakers over the years knowingly or unknowingly to come and change things to their liking, this was not agreeable for me." "We went to the airport and when we got there we didn't expect to see a big crowd." "This guy who is the leader of the football fans in the stadiums had also come to cheer for Farhadi in his own way." "The pilot asked me to join him in the cockpit." "We were talking to each other during the flight until we entered the Iranian air space." "They contacted him from the control tower and asked him whether I was on the flight." "He told them that I was there sitting next to him." "They told him that a big crowd was at the airport to welcome me and asked me to behave in a way so that the airport would be kept in order." "I understood what they meant and I realized that people had found out about my return even though no-one was informed about it." "Apparently the news was on the internet and people and the journalists were there to greet me." "It was around 2 in the morning when Asghar Farhadi arrived." "Unfortunately the authorities had no plans for greeting him!" "The authorities who were there to greet him on behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance took him to the VIP lounge." "They told the reporters and the photographers to go to the first floor and wait for him." "People are here without being informed by the official media." "I said now that the people are here we should go through the place where they are waiting." "I thought that no-one..." "Farhadi welcome, Farhadi welcome!" "I don't know why they insisted that night that I should get out of the airport as soon as possible." "People had come to the airport with a lot of trouble and I was not in a position to make decisions there." "We got into a car and drove towards Tehran and the people were still waiting for me." "On the way I thought to myself that this will upset the people who had come to express their kindness at that time of the night." "But I hadn't seen them or had passed through very quickly." "I asked the driver to go back." "I told him to go back to the airport." "He told me that they had asked him to take me away but I said to him to turn around because it was not right." "We talked on the phone with the authorities for a while." "I insisted that if they were unwilling to go back I would go back myself, and then we returned and..." "Mr. Farhadi Iran is proud of you!" "In the honor of the peace loving Iranians!" "The people of Iran consider you the representative of peace." "I just consider myself a filmmaker, I'm just a filmmaker." "About what others are saying, I just consider myself a filmmaker." "A round of applaud for Asghar!" "Viva, thank you, thank you." "This is the Cinema Museum of Iran." "Like a house, ...this museum has gathered all the souvenirs of the Iranian Cinema over the past hundred years." "This place if full of various awards." "One day the Oscar for A Separation will come to this place and will sit on one of these shelves." "There are no other reputable awards that the Iranian Cinema has not achieved." "Behind each and every award there's a story which can be turned into a film." "This film was the story of one of these awards, ...which turned into a memorable memory."