It’s safe to say that last night’s Oscars made quite a political statement.
Not only did Iranian film ‘The Salesman’ win best foreign film but director Asghar Farhadi boycotted attending the awards ceremony in protest of the travel ban enacted against 6 Muslim countries by Donald Trump this month.
He asked the first Iranian female astronaut (and first Muslim woman in space) Anousheh Ansari to accept his award in his behalf and to read a statement explaining his decision not to come to the awards ceremony this year.
He stated that his absence was "out of respect for people of [his] country and those people of the other 6 nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the US."
His decision to ask an astronaut to accept the award may also in itself be an expression of rejection against the imposed travel ban, provoking thinking about how the world is now so developed that space travel is possible, yet the regressive laws of the Trump administration are preventing travel on a much smaller scale.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan expressed his congratulations for Farhadi on twitter. The Mayor organised a free film screening of The Salesman in Trafalgar Square on Oscar night, which was attended by thousands of people last night.
Congratulations to Asghar Farhadi & the cast & crew of #TheSalesman on their Oscar. A special win for a great film. #LondonIsOpen #Oscars pic.twitter.com/7hgQHdBMtV
— Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) February 27, 2017
A number of Oscar nominees also wore blue ribbons on their glamorous gowns representing the American Civil Liberties Union - which was among the first to launch a legal challenge following president Trump’s travel ban.
Blue ACLU ribbons make a statement on the Oscars red carpet https://t.co/LIFSymIJfd pic.twitter.com/lELqMSJOuN
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) February 27, 2017
As we can see from above celebrities pictured wearing the ribbon include model Karlie Kloss, actress Ruth Negga and director Barry Jenkins.
Mahershala Ali picked up an award for best actor for his performance in ‘Moonlight’, becoming the first Muslim man to win this award. He addressed the issues of discrimination and persecution in his acceptance speech speech.
Rounding off a very politically charged night, Syrian documentary ‘White Helmets’, a film celebrating a volunteer rescue group operating in rebel-held parts of Syria also won an award for best short documentary.
SE
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