A Hero

Rahim Soltani is temporarily released from prison for a two-day period in order to settle an unpaid debt of 150,000,000 tomans to his brother-in-law, Bahram. Rahim’s lover, Farkondeh, has acquired a lost handbag containing several gold coins, which they both attempt to sell in order to repay the debt, but find that gold has lost value to the point where Rahim cannot repay Bahram in full. In the meantime, he moves in with his sister Malileh and her husband Hossein.

Malileh discovers the handbag and coins and confronts Rahim about it, leading Rahim to pursue the original owner of the handbag and return it to them. After the original owner comes to claim the bag (which Rahim claims he found), Rahim is praised for his selfless act and his story is covered by the media before he returns to prison and becomes a local celebrity. Bahram is immediately suspicious of Rahim’s story, believing he is trying to restore his image and leave prison to stop the impending second marriage of his ex-wife. The prison begins to arrange for Rahim’s release.

At a charity event to raise money and provide employment for Rahim, Bahram is incensed to learn that less than a quarter of the debt’s total has been raised. He explains to the organizers that Rahim, then unable to take out a loan from a bank, received the money from Bahram that he acquired from a loan shark, who he eventually had to repay when Rahim failed to make payments. Despite this, Bahram agrees to have Rahim released for the sake of his estranged son, Siavash.

While applying for his new job, Rahim learns that rumors have begun to spread disputing his supposed discovery and returning of the handbag, prompting Rahim to locate the woman in order for her to confirm his story, though his search is fruitless. Rahim and Malileh plot to have Farkondeh pose as the woman, using details from the actual encounter to validate Rahim’s story. The hiring manager produces a text from Rahim to Bahram offering to pay half the debt a week before the day he claimed to have found the bag, leading him to reject Rahim’s application.

Certain that Bahram forwarded the incriminating text exchange, Rahim confronts him at his printing shop, but Bahram denies it. After Bahram accuses Rahim of using his son for sympathy, Rahim physically attacks him, and nearby shopkeepers help restrain Rahim while the police arrive. Farkondeh arrives and manages to convince Bahram to let Rahim go.

Rahim is called by the charity organization to inform him of a video made by Bahram’s daughter Nazanin, which shows footage of his fight with Bahram while also unveiling his and Farkondeh’s relationship. Nazanin threatens to release the video publicly if Rahim doesn’t pay his debt in full by the next day. In light of this evidence, Rahim is forced to unveil the truth about the bag. Fearing a scandal, the organization decides to withhold the money raised for Rahim. On the last day of his leave, Rahim is informed by the charity organizer that the funds raised for him will instead be used toward the release of a man scheduled to be executed, and Farkondeh convinces her to tell the media that it was Rahim’s idea in order to help him retain some of his honor.

Nazanin’s video is released, and Farkondeh’s family forbids her from seeing Rahim again. While filming a video about Rahim’s most recent “act” of charity to soften the backlash, Siavash is coached into crying on camera by Rahim’s parole officer, Salehi, and Rahim, wanting to protect his son, relents and wishes for the video to not be released. When Salehi refuses, Rahim fights him outside until he eventually deletes it. The following morning, Farkondeh and Siavash accompany Rahim back to prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.

• Amir Jadidi as Rahim
• Mohsen Tanabandeh as Bahram
• Sahar Goldoost as Farkhondeh
• Fereshteh Sadr Orafaie as Mrs. Radmehr
• Sarina Farhadi as Nazanin[6]

Memento Films shopped the rights to the script by Farhadi during the 2020 European Film Market in Berlin.[7] The film entered pre-production in June 2020 and filmed through December 2020.[8] Production took place in Shiraz. In April 2021, it was revealed that Amazon Studios had acquired rights to distribute the film in the United States.[9]

The film had its premiere at 2021 Cannes Film Festival on 13 July 2021, as it was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the festival. It is also selected as closing film of the 52nd International Film Festival of India to be screened on 28 November 2021.[10]

A Hero was inspired by the true story of Mohammad Reza Shokri, a man who returned a bag of cash he found while on a leave from a debtors' prison in Shiraz.[11][12] Azadeh Masihzadeh made a documentary about Shokri, titled All Winners, All Losers, from 2014 to 2015, when she attended a workshop taught by Farhadi on documentary filmmaking at the Karnameh Institute in Tehran. In the course, Farhadi assigned his students to research and film a documentary about people who had found and returned valuable objects to their original owners. According to Masihzadeh, while most students in the class took subjects from a list of excerpts from news media Farhadi provided them with, she found Shokri's story herself in local media in her hometown of Shiraz as the subjects Farhadi named were already taken by other students.[11][12] All Winners, All Losers was screened at the Shiraz Arts Festival in 2018.[11]

In August 2019, before filming A Hero, Farhadi asked Masihzadeh to sign a document stating that the idea for All Winners, All Losers belonged to Farhadi.[12] Masihzadeh obliged, which she has since said she did under pressure.[12] A lawyer for Memento Films, the French producer and distributor of A Hero, later pointed out that the document had no legal value as "ideas and concepts are not protected by copyright".[11]

In October 2021, after seeing A Hero and finding it strikingly similar to her documentary,[12] Masihzadeh filed a complaint to House of Cinema's Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds. which then ruled in Farhadi's favour.[13] Farhadi denied the allegation of plagiarism and sued Masihzadeh for defamation, and then Masihzadeh sued Farhadi for copyright infringement.[12][14] Masihzadeh claimed that she discovered the story herself and that it had not been reported in national media at the time, while Farhadi's lawyer argued that the story had already been reported in media, providing links to two news articles from 2012.[11][15][16] The manager of the workshop has told media that she shares Masihzadeh's recollection.[11][12] A fellow student who attended the workshop also testified in support of Masihzadeh in court, while some other students have signed a statement in support of Farhadi denying the allegation.[11] Masihzadeh faced up to two years in prison and 74 lashes,[11] though corporal punishment is rare for first offenders and the prison time may be avoided by paying fines.[13] In March 2022, a judicial investigator allowed Masihzadeh to proceed with her legal action against Farhadi, but rejected her claim to revenue earned by Farhadi.[15]

On 4 April 2022, a court acquitted Masihzadeh of defamation charges for "insufficient evidence", which Farhadi could appeal.[14] The same day, it was reported that a judge found evidence Farhadi violated Masihzadeh's copyright. The Hollywood Reporter initially reported that this was a conviction subject to no appeal, only to correct itself and state that Farhadi had merely been indicted and that the case would now move to a second judge, whose ruling may then be appealed, after Farhadi's lawyer disputed the initial reporting.[17][18]

Shokri also sued Farhadi for defamation,[11] but this was dismissed by a court.[15][17]

• List of submissions to the 94th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
• List of Iranian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

• A Hero at IMDb
• A Hero at Metacritic
• A Hero at Rotten Tomatoes
• Official Screenplay
• All Winners, All Losers on YouTube