Héloise Goy, with Wassila Belhacine 12:02 p.m., April 06, 2022

The Iranian filmmaker was found guilty of plagiarism, in first instance, for his latest film, "A hero", winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival 2021. The film would be largely inspired by the short film of the one of his students.

She accuses him of having appropriated one of his scenarios.

Is this the end of a legend?

Multi-award winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi has been found guilty of plagiarism at first instance.

He is the author of nine films including

A Hero

, released in theaters last December.

This feature film received the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival last July.

He was still in the running for the Oscars last week. 

A hero

 tells the story of a man drawn into a vicious circle following a small lie.

Ironically, it is precisely for this feature film which tells the story of a lie that Asghar Farhadi is accused of plagiarism by one of his former students.

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"A free interpretation of the same story"

Shortly after the release of the feature film in the cinema, this young woman reproached him for having appropriated the scenario of his documentary which she would have developed during a workshop led by Asghar Farhadi in Tehran in 2014. She therefore lodged a complaint against the filmmaker.  

Asghar Farhadi's lawyer claims that the film

A Hero

 is a "free interpretation" of the same story "which would have been published in the media long before the cinema class" and that the filmmaker conducted his own research "from print and other media". 

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According to the American newspaper

The Hollywood Reporter

, Asghar Farhadi was indicted and later found guilty at first instance.

But the case will be sent to a second judge whose decision can be challenged on appeal.