Iran has officially selected murky moral drama ‘Cause of Death: Unknown’ as its official submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 98th Academy Awards due to be announced on March 2.
Directed by Ali Zarnegar, the 2023 film follows seven sojourners in the Lut Desert in southeastern Iran who face a moral dilemma after discovering a large sum of money on a deceased fellow traveler.
The story examines human ethics, survival and moral choices under pressure, and has drawn praise for its suspenseful narrative and minimalist storytelling.
The film’s path to recognition faced challenges. It was removed from the official selection of the 40th Fajr Film Festival in 2022 in Tehran, just days before the event.
Authorities pulled it from the state-run event for unclear reasons but allowed it to be screened elsewhere.
Zarnegar publicly criticized the decision, emphasizing that social cinema reflects society and lamenting the suppression of creative expression.
The movie won the Audience Award at the Iranian Film Festival in New York and received nominations for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor at the 2023 Shanghai International Film Festival where it also won Best Cinematography.
Iran has a history of submitting films to the Academy Awards, with internationally acclaimed works by Asghar Farhadi such as A Separation and The Salesman, which won Best Foreign Language Film in 2012 and 2017, respectively, and A Hero, which was nominated in 2022.
Before Farhadi’s success, 'Children of Heaven' by Majid Majidi became the first Iranian film to earn an Oscar nomination in 1999, though it lost to Roberto Benigni’s 'Life Is Beautiful'.
Iranian filmmakers Shirin Sohani and Hossein Malayemi won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in March for their film In the Shadow of the Cypress at the 97th Oscars in Hollywood, dedicating the award to their fellow Iranians.
While Iranian cinema has global reputation for its exploration of social themes, independent filmmakers operate under a system of stringent censorship.
The government requires script approval and screening permits by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, punishing those who challenge political or social taboos with bans, imprisonment or exile.
