Iran submits 'The Night Guardian' for 2024 Oscars

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran has submitted director Reza Mirkarimi's movie "The Night Guardian" for the 2024 Oscars in the Best International Film category.

The movie, released last year, is about the tough life of Rasoul, a rural worker trying to make a living in the capital Tehran.

"The selection committee has chosen the movie Negahban-e Shab, or The Night Guardian, directed by Reza Mirkarimi to represent the Iranian cinema at the 2024 Oscars," the Farabi Cinema Foundation said late Tuesday.

Mirkarimi, 56, won the best film prize at the 2005 Fajr film festival in Tehran for "So Close, So Far", and his movie "Today" was nominated at the 2015 Academy Awards.

The Farabi Cinema Foundation has almost exclusively selected Iran's Oscar picks since 1994.

Iran has long had a thriving cinema scene, with figures including Jafar Panahi and Asghar Farhadi scooping awards around the world.

Farhadi has twice won the Oscar for best foreign film, for "A Separation" in 2012 and "The Salesman" in 2017.