Tehran (The Times Groupe)- Iranian actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who lives in exile following a smear campaign about her love life, wept with joy after winning the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
The 41-year-old Iranian actress won for her role in Holy Spider, in which she plays a reporter trying to solve a serial murder of prostitutes in the holy city of Mashhad.
“I have come a long way to be on this stage tonight. It was not an easy story. It was humiliation but there was cinema,” Zar (Zahra) Amir Ebrahimi told the audience in her acceptance speech on Saturday.
Danish-Iranian director Ali Abbasi directed Holy Spider, based on the true story of a working-class man who murdered prostitutes in the early 2000s, becoming known as the “Spider Killer”.
Zar AMIR EBRAHIMI, lauréate du Prix d'interprétation féminine pour HOLY SPIDER (LES NUITS DE MASHHAD) de Ali ABBASI.
–
Zar AMIR EBRAHIMI, award winner for Best actress in HOLY SPIDER by Ali ABBASI. #Cannes2022 #Palmares #Awards #HOLYSPIDER #Photocall pic.twitter.com/9Jxw42xZRM— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) May 28, 2022
It was not possible to film in Iran, so it was filmed in Jordan.
Her role in Nargess, one of Iran’s longest-running soap operas, made Ebrahimi a star in her early 20s.