‘The Tree of Life’ written and directed by Terrence Malick came out top. The film chronicles the origins and meaning of life by way of a middle-aged man's childhood memories of his family living in 1950s Texas, interspersed with imagery of the origins of the universe and the inception of life on Earth. Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, and Jessica Chastain star in the film.
18 critics and experts including Wendy Ide (The Times), Nick James (Sight & Sound), Derek Malcolm (Evening Standard) and Tim Robey (Telegraph) voted for Farhadi’s film.
'Nader and Simin' represents Iran at the 84th Academy Awards. Leila Hatami, Shahab Hosseini, Paiman Ma’aadi, Sareh Bayat, Sarina Farhadi, Ali Asghar Shahbazi, Babak Karimi and Merila Zare’ei include the actors of the film.
The feature is centered on the story of Simin, a middle class Iranian woman who wants to leave the country accompanied by her husband Nader and their young daughter in the hope of a better life. Nader refuses to leave because feels morally dutiful to care for his old father who is suffering from Alzheimer. Thus, a row breaks out which later ends up in family court.
'Nader and Simin' earlier shined at the competition section of the last Berlin Film Festival. 'Nader and Simin’ was praised both by the viewers and critics at Berlinale and won the coveted Golden Bear of the festival as the best film. The cast of the film also garnered the best actor/actress award of Berlinale.
It is also competing with nine other candidates in the foreign films category for the International Press Academy's Satellite Awards slated for Dec 18 in Beverly Hills.
Moreover, ‘This Is Not a Film’ made by Ja’far Panahi and Mojtaba Mir Tahmasb form Iran and ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ by Thomas Alfredson jointly stood at the 10th rank of the poll of international critics’ best films in 2011.
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