Majid Majidi’s ‘Sun Children’ is Iran’s official entry for Oscars

PTI, Nov 9, 2020, 4:00 PM IST

Los Angeles: Critically-acclaimed filmmaker Majid Majidi’s child labour drama “Sun Children” will be representing Iran in the best international feature film category at the 93rd Academy Awards.

According to Variety, the delegation of the representative of Iranian cinema to the Oscar ceremony announced the decision on Sunday.

The committee said that it screened 90 films and the final shortlist included titles like “Walnut Tree,” “Yalda: A Night for Forgiveness” and “Careless Crime”.

This will be Majidi’s sixth film to represent Iran in the Oscars. His 1997 directorial “Children’s of Heaven” made it to the final nominations in the category in 1998, but lost to the Italian film “Life Is Beautiful” by Roberto Benigni.

“Sun Children” had its world premiere in competition at the 77th Venice Film Festival in September. The movie’s lead actor, Ruhollah Zamani, was named the best young actor at the festival and won the Marcello Mastroianni Award. Majidi was presented with the Lanterna Magica award.

The film’s story revolves around a small group of kids who sign up for education at a community organisation, with the intention of using it to pull off a heist. The film touches upon child labour in Iran, inequality, and the deficiencies of the country’s school system.

In the past Iran’s “A Separation” (2012) and “The Salesman” (2017) both directed by Asghar Farhadi, have won the best foreign language film at the Oscars.