TEHRAN -- Rasul Mollaqolipur’s war-related drama “M for Mother” is entering the Oscar race in the Best Foreign Language Films category at the 80th Annual Academy Awards.

“M for Mother” centers around a young boy named Saeid, who is in a critical condition suffering from a physical illness caused by the fact that his mother Sepideh had been exposed to chemical weapons during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, which in Iran is known as Sacred Defense. His father Soheil, who is now a member of staff in the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, insists on sending him to a sanatorium but his mother Sepideh opposes the idea.
Golshifteh Farahani, Hossein Yari, and Mohammad-Ali Shadman play the mother, father, and son respectively. Other members of the cast include Jamshid Hashempur, Sharareh Dowlatabadi, Marzieh Borumand, Amir-Hossein Seddiq, Sahar Dowlatshahi, and Ramin Rastad.
“M for Mother” was the last film that Mollaqolipur made before his premature death from a heart attack in March 2007, at the age of 51.
The film was chosen to represent Iran by a selection board, appointed by the Farabi Cinematic Foundation, from amongst a collection of eight films which they assessed including “Crossroads” (directed by Abolhassan Davudi), “Reward of Silence” (Maziar Miri), “Somewhere Too Far” (Khosro Masumi), “Mainline” (Rakhshan Bani-Etemad/Mohsen Abdolvahhab), “It’s Winter” (Rafi Pitts),“Good Night Commander” (Ensieh Shah-Hosseini), and “When Everybody Was Asleep” (Fereidun Hassanpur).
The selection board comprised the following members: Amir Esfandiari, Mohammad Bozorgnia, Kamal Tabrizi, Mojtaba Raei, Mohammadreza Sokut, Alireza Shojanuri, Rasul Sadr-Ameli, Taqi Aliqolizadeh, and Akbar Nabavi.
The 80th Annual Academy Awards will take place on February 24, 2008.