"M for Mother", Iranian Representative for the 80th Academy Awards

In Iran, like all other countries, selecting the country's entry for the Academy Awards ceremony has been always controversial. Every year a group of filmmakers and officials from the Culture Ministry and even the TV organization get together to select the entry from among the candidates. This year, the decision was to be made by Amir Esfandiari (Farabi Cinema Foundation's International Relations Director), Mohammad Bozorgnia, Kamal Tabrizi, Mojtaba Raee and Rassoul Sadr-Ameli (film directors), Mohammad Reza Sokout (cinematographer), Taqi Aliqolizadeh (representing the TV), Alireza Shoja-Nouri (producer) and Akbar Nabavi (film expert). At the end, they chose M for Mother, a film few would have thought of as the likely nominee.