Belarus Selects Vadim Perelman’s ‘Persian Lessons’ for International Feature Film Oscar Race (EXCLUSIVE)
Christopher Vourlias Vadim Perelman’s “Persian Lessons” will represent Belarus in the best international feature film race at the 2021 Oscars, Variety has learned.The WWII drama, which world premiered in the Panorama strand of the Berlin Film Festival this year, stars Nahuel Perez Biscayart (“Beats Per Minute”) as a Belgian Jew who narrowly avoids execution by a Nazi firing squad when he claims to be Persian. Desperate to save himself, he offers to teach Farsi — a language he does not know — to the head of the camp, played by German star Lars Eidinger (“Clouds of Sils Maria”).Perelman (“House of Sand and Fog”) directed from a script by Ilya Zofin, based on the story “Erfindung Einer Sprache” by Wolfgang Kohlhaase.