04/04/2012 - Androulla Vassiliou is to award the European Union’s first MEDIA Prize to Iranian film director Asghar Farhadi

The Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism, and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou, will hand over the European Union’s first MEDIA Prize to Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi (pictured) on Sunday May 20, at the Cannes Film Festival.

The filmmaker, who won the Golden Bear at the 2011 Berlinale and an Oscar for A Separation, will receive together with his producer Alexandre Mallet-Guy (Memento Films) the European Union’s MEDIA Prize for their new film project, to be shot in France and in French next autumn.

“I am proud to reward Mr Farhadi for a film project that demonstrates strong cultural identity and illustrates Europe’s openness to culture, something that I defend every day,” said Androulla Vassiliou. “After the worldwide success of his great film A Separation, he offers us a new project that is just as socially commited as it is moving and, especially, that is imbued with universality.”

“In times when some politicians are trying to transform the beautiful rainbow of the world’s cultural diversity into a battleground for differences and confrontations, I perceive this distinction that my next film project has been awarded by MEDIA as a very encouraging sign,” said Asghar Farhadi. “I therefore wish to warmly thank the MEDIA programme, and to congratulate it for its lucid and open vision of mutual and respectful exchange between cultures.”

The MEDIA Prize rewards a screenwriter and his producer for a promising project with strong European potential intended for release in cinemas, whether animation, fiction, or documentary.

The winner is chosen from among all applicants to the MEDIA programme’s aid for development by independent experts, the European Commission, and the European Union’s Education, Audiovisuel and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).