The jury for the 2022 Cannes Film Festival assembled for the press and for the most part, it was a straightforward affair. “Les Miserables” director Ladj Ly remarked about how the invite was an offer he couldn’t refuse. “Worst Person in the World” Oscar nominee Joachim Trier noted that his grandfather, then a relatively known filmmaker on the world stage, saw his film debut at the festival in 1960. “Passing” director and actress Rebecca Hall said her invite was a “once in a lifetime” experience. “Titane” actor Vincent Lindon, the president of the jury, referred to his position as a “huge responsibility.” And then, toward the end of the session, two-time Academy Award winner Asghar Farhadi was asked a question about a legal case he’s part of in his home country of Iran.
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A Danish journalist asked about a former student who sued Farhadi for plagiarism over his Oscar-nominated film “A Hero,” which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival just last year. She accused him of basing it on a documentary she had made and coercing her into signing the rights to it away to him. Farhadi then sued her for defamation which, reportedly, if she was found guilty, could have resulted in a maximum two-year prison sentence and up to 75 lashes as punishment. It has been reported that she is out of legal hot water, but that a jury would eventually hear Farhadi’s plagiarism case.
Farhadi gave a long response that, it should be noted, was first translated to French and then English.
“I have never spoken directly about this matter,” Farhadi says. “A lot of the information that you have just given was published in the newspapers. The information was incorrect and was corrected subsequently. I think we need to rectify the situation in light of the correct information. This documentary was something I saw at a workshop. I talked about it with the student. But much later on, I created the film ‘A Hero’ and it cannot be viewed as a way of plagiarizing. In fact, in ‘A Hero,’ what is in the film is what is quite different. We have to see why certain journalists have spread this incorrect information. What we do is to make fiction films. And what I did in my film ‘A Hero’ is not related to the work done in the workshop I just referred to. It was based on just a current event. This documentary and the film ‘A Hero’ are simply based on an event two years prior to the workshop. When an event takes place and is covered by the press then it becomes public knowledge and you can make a film about the same event. Without one being a copy about the other. You can look at the information on this event. ‘A Hero’ is just one interpretation. It was a documentary, it was not the same take at all. The Journal, the newspaper you are referring to talked about plagiarizing. This is not true. And likewise, the case is being studied by the religious authorities. There will be a jury to judge the case. And the judge in fact in his ruling said the two stories were in fact different. He simply, it was decided of course that there was a substance for a case before the court that a ruling could be given. We don’t know when the case will be heard. It’s a very lengthy process. Obviously, this has created a certain amount of ill-feeling. But my film was not based on a documentary. A suggestion was even made that the earnings of the film should be shared between the two of us. I think the matter will no doubt be cleared up and I’m sorry it has created so much ill-feeling. I hope whoever this mistaken information that has been written will be corrected. It was even said that I had been sentenced which was totally wrong.”
What Farhadi did not address, in his response to the reporter, is why he would sue for defamation considering the legal consequences of such a ruling in Iran. Take that as you will.
Then again, the festival would likely just appreciate it if the press focused on the more upbeat aspects of the conference. Such as when Lindon noted it would be his responsibility to “put all these preconceived ideas aside” when he was judging the competition.
“What we have been told since we’re small is just to be yourself. You have to be a simple spectator,” Lindon says. “I don’t like to judge films. I will try to see them, love them, let them trickle down within me, and then see how they relate to my ideas and what I have in my mind. Sometimes you like a film one day or you don’t like it two days later.”
Or, how “Loving” director Jeff Nichols first attended the festival as an intern at the American Pavilion in 2000.
“I waited tables and a person tipped me in a ticket,” Nichols recalls. “And my mom [had] bought me a tuxedo. And I went to this screening and I sat way, way up high. And I looked down at the filmmakers at the end and I was blown away by how beautifully this festival honors filmmakers. And I can guarantee you I am going to watch every single one of these films with the same enthusiasm and wide-eyed nature as I did when I was 21.”
As will we all.
Look for continuing coverage of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival until May 28 on The Playlist.