Asghar Farhadi and Producer Refute ‘A Hero’ Plagiarism Charge
variety.comNick Vivarelli International CorrespondentTwo-time Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi and his French producer Alexandre Mallet-Guy are denying reports that the Iranian auteur has been sentenced and found guilty on a charge of plagiarism pertaining to his latest film, “A Hero.”Farhadi’s former student Azadeh Masihzadeh has accused the filmmaker of stealing the idea for “A Hero” from a documentary she made during a filmmaking workshop held by Farhadi in 2014 in Tehran.“A Hero” is about an earnest-looking man named Rahim who, while on furlough after being imprisoned for debt, returns a lost handbag full of gold coins — an act that appears to make him a good samaritan.
However, the story ends up being more complicated. The film won the Grand Prize in Cannes last year and was Iran’s submission for the international feature film category at the Academy Awards.
In a statement, Mallet-Guy said there has been no definitive and legally binding ruling on this case. Rather, there has been a preliminary investigation to decide whether it should be brought to trial, and it has been decided that it will.Mallet-Guy, who is head of Paris-based Memento production and distribution company, also said the Iranian court in its preliminary deliberation, based on the investigation, has “dismissed” any potential claims by Masihzadeh pertaining to revenues from “A Hero.”He also said he believes Farhadi will end up winning the case since the story that “A Hero” takes its cue from had been “disclosed in both press articles and TV reports years before Mrs.
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