Shoah film leads Oscars charge

Director Vadim Perelman’s new film, Persian Lessons, is to represent Belarus in the best international feature film race at the 2021 Oscars.

Starring Nahuel Perez Biscayart, it tells the story of a Belgian Jew who narrowly avoids execution by a Nazi firing squad when he claims to be Persian and offers to teach an eager Nazi commandant Farsi – despite not knowing it.

The film, which is based on a script from Ilya Zofin, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year and Perelman, a Ukrainian director, has described it as “especially important and relevant in our time”.

It was shot entirely in Belarus, co-produced with Belarusfilm, and is now the country’s submission for the Academy Awards in April.

When it was reviewed by Variety earlier this year, it was described as “a wildly implausible and downright manipulative mix of wrenching human tragedy and absurdist comedy”.