Iranian director Asghar Farhadi has been awarded an Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at the Sarajevo Film Festival, one of the event's most prestigious honours, and spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about war, cinema and hope. The two-time Oscar winner, who previously chaired the festival's feature film jury in 2018, said he was delighted to return, praising the festival's audience of "ordinary people" for giving him particularly meaningful feedback on his work.

The interview came against the backdrop of Iran's ongoing conflict with the US and Israel, and the imprisonment of fellow filmmaker Jafar Panahi on charges of "propaganda against the regime". Farhadi, director of A Separation, The Salesman and the Cannes-premiered Parallel Tales, revealed he drove back into Iran overland after finishing filming in France, saying his love for the country and its people outweighed the risks. He reiterated his opposition to war "not just in Europe and the Middle East, but everywhere", noted that cinema's engagement with politics takes time to bear fruit, and expressed gratitude for the solidarity shown by colleagues across the international film industry.