Oscar-winning director found guilty of plagiarizing movie idea from a former student

Two-time Academy Award-winning director Asghar Farhadi has been found guilty of plagiarizing his student’s work for A Hero, his latest flick that won the Grand Jury award at the Cannes Film Festival and was a contender for the Best International Film category at the 94th Oscars.

The celebrated Iranian director, known for 2011’s A Separation and 2016’s The Salesman, has been battling a plagiarization lawsuit launched by former student Azadeh Masihzadeh, who claims Farhadi has ripped off several crucial plot elements from her All Winners All Losers documentary.

Farhadi had previously admitted to basing his film on the true events of the documentary but maintained that he researched the story himself. After countering the ordeal by launching his own defamation lawsuit, which the court recently tossed out, The Hollywood Reporter now claims an Iranian judge has found him guilty of indeed stealing his premise from All Winners All Losers.

Since the announcement, Farhadi’s attorney has taken to Instagram to claim the plagiarism ruling isn’t final, despite THR stating that the decision is “binding and cannot be appealed,” so we’ll probably have to wait for further confirmation from officials in the Iranian judicial system.

A Hero revolves around the life of Rahim, an indebted man on prison leave who finds a handbag full of gold coins. Despite being able to repay his debts and get his freedom back, Rahim decides to seek out the true owner of the bag and return the money, a decision that ends up complicating his life even further.

Farhadi’s latest movie has managed to receive numerous nominations, including one at the Golden Globes for Best Foreign Language Film, though the film ultimately failed to bag him his third Academy Award nomination, let alone win.