The motion picture academy calls the possible visa ban of Iranian director Asghar Farhadi "extremely troubling" — Farhadi's feature film The Salesman is nominated for a best foreign language Oscar. Farhadi has not commented on his travel plans, but on Friday, the president of the National Iranian American Council, Trita Parsi, tweeted: "Confirmed: Iran's Asghar Farhadi won't be let into the US to attend Oscars." On Thursday, Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti, star of the The Salesman, tweeted she would boycott the Oscars — whether allowed to attend or not — in protest of Trump's immigration policies, which she called "racist." Actress Taraneh Alidoosti, seen here last year at the Cannes Film Festival, tweeted she won't attend the Academy Awards in protest of President Donald Trump. She stars in the Oscar-nominated The Salesman.

Source: CBC News January 29, 2017 15:44 UTC