JEDDAH: Amid all the talk of the outfits and gowns at the recent Oscars ceremony, one Iranian news agency has made headlines with its own very unique designs.
The Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) reportedly censored footage from the Academy Awards to hide bare flesh — thanks to some questionable Photoshop skills.
Asghar Farhadi’s film The Salesman won an award for best foreign film at the Oscars. The gong, presented by Charlize Theron, was picked up by Anousheh Ansari, the first Iranian in space. Farhadi, the Iranian director, refused to attend the ceremony in protest against US President Donald Trump’s travel ban.
But the ILNA is unlikely to receive any honors for special effects in its attempt to cover the two women’s exposed flesh.
Video stills show a clumsy editing effort on Theron, who was given a makeover by the news agency — and looks like she is wearing a black polo neck rather than a glamorous Christian Dior gown. Ansari’s chest was superimposed with a blur by the news agency.
The video was shared on the Facebook page of lobby group ‘My Stealthy Freedom’.
“At a time when Farhadi chooses an astronaut and NASA scientist to prove a point about human rights not having ‘borders,’ the Islamic Republic of Iran does the complete opposite by using Farhadi’s wonderful Oscars statement for their own propaganda while blind to the meaning of his point,” Masih Alinejad, journalist and founder of the group, wrote.
