Iranian director Asghar Farhadi has criticised politicians and the media for emphasising cultural "differences" rather than shared humanity, arguing this fuels hatred and division. Speaking at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where he is receiving an honorary Heart of Sarajevo award and a career retrospective, Farhadi said he was asked how his films had achieved rare box-office success both in Iran and internationally, and used the moment to reflect on why audiences worldwide can connect emotionally with foreign films despite knowing little about the cultures depicted.

Farhadi, whose film "A Separation" became Iran's first Oscar-winning picture and earned $25 million worldwide, argued that emotions such as parental love are universal even if their expression differs by culture, citing Japanese directors Ozu and Kurosawa as examples of humanity-driven storytelling that transcends borders. He illustrated his point starkly, noting that when a bomb kills children in Afghanistan, people often instinctively see those children's lives as somehow different from their own, and asked why a mother's love in Afghanistan would be seen as different from anyone else's. He also urged young filmmakers not to chase success, calling it potentially "dangerous", and said the more local and honest a film is, the more universal its appeal becomes.