Asghar Farhadi, Hollywood and the Politics of Cinema

Farhadi’s Experience in the United States

Farhadi also referred to his personal experience in the United States.

According to his comments, he spent several years in the country while conducting research connected with a film project.

He described visiting San Francisco and speaking with prisoners, including people who were Black or immigrants.

For Farhadi, this experience represented a side of American society that international audiences do not necessarily encounter through mainstream American cultural exports.

This observation connects his comments about prisons with his broader criticism of Hollywood.

Hollywood, he suggested, does not necessarily show the entirety of American society.

Instead, films often construct selective narratives.

That observation is not unique to the United States.

Every national film industry makes choices about what aspects of society to emphasize.

Iranian cinema does the same.

European cinema does the same.

Indian cinema does the same.

Latin American cinema does the same.

The important question is therefore not whether cinema is selective.

It is which version of reality becomes internationally dominant.

October 5, 2026 | 7:22 pm