Though Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman was only playing in three theaters, it had the highest per screen average of any film this weekend. Sadly, that probably isn’t simply because it’s a fascinating piece by one of the medium’s masters—which it is—but because of how Farhadi was affected by Trump’s immigration ban aimed at seven predominantly Muslim countries. News broke Saturday that, because of the executive order, Farhadi—who is from Iran—would likely be unable to attend the Oscar ceremony where The Salesman is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. The following day, the director released a statement saying he would not go regardless of whether he received permission to travel to the U.S.
One theater, Brooklyn’s Nitehawk, is aiming to do some good out of the interest in the film. Nitehawk announced that it has planned a one-night-only screening and that a portion of the proceeds would go to the ACLU. Tickets are $16 and the event will take place February 6. (The ACLU, which heroically sprung to action over the past couple to days, received $24 million in online donations this past weekend alone.)
The Salesman is about a couple in Tehran who move into a new apartment where a horrific attack takes place. In reviewing the film for The A.V. Club we wrote: “The real star here is Farhadi, who remains peerless at orchestrating fearsomely complex moral dilemmas from what seem like innocuous circumstances and continues to grow as a low-key visual stylist, with a sharp eye for both cluttered and spare environments.“
