Events

Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi’s multi-layered and stirring drama THE PAST, which won the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actress Award for its star, Bérénice Béjo, and is Iran's official selection for the Academy Award for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, is scheduled to open in NY (Lincoln Plaza Cinema and Film Forum) and LA on December 20, 2013 followed by a national release.

Following a four year separation, Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) returns to Paris from Tehran, upon his estranged French wife Marie (Bérénice Bejo)'s request, in order to finalize their divorce procedure so she can marry her new boyfriend Samir (Tahar Rahim). During his tense brief stay, Ahmad discovers the conflicting nature of Marie's relationship with her teenage daughter Lucie (Pauline Burlet).  Ahmad's efforts to improve this relationship soon unveil a secret from their past, and the highly charged revelations affecting every character in Mr. Farhadi's complex screenplay unfold with his trademark nuance. Once again he showcases his gifts as a masterful storyteller and director who elicits riveting performances from his cast.

Argentinian-born and Paris-based actress Bérénice Béjo was last seen in her Academy nominated role as Peppy Miller in Best Picture Oscar winner The Artist.  Following her César-nominated breakout role in Gérard Jugnot's Most Promising Young Actress, Béjo made her American feature film debut in Brian Helgeland's A Knight's Tale, starring Heath Ledger. Béjo is currently in production on director Michel Hazanavicius' new film.

One of French cinema's young rising stars, Tahar Rahim is best known to US audiences for his indelible performance in Jacques Audiard's A Prophet, for which he won both Best Actor and Best Male Newcomer Césars, as well as the European Film Award for Best Actor.

41 year-old writer-director Asghar Farhadi graduated with a Master’s Degree in Film Direction from Tehran University in 1998. His previous film, A Separation, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2011, as well as numerous other awards.  He had won the Berlin Film Festival' Golden Bear for Best Director for About Elly and was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world by Time magazine in 2012.  THE PAST is his sixth feature.