TEHRAN -- Iranian filmmaker and architect Ataollah Omidvar has accused the 87th Academy Awards of plagiarizing Abbas Kiarostami’s idea for “Forest without Leaves” in the part of the set design for the 2015 Oscars.
In an interview with Honaronline on Tuesday, Omidvar claimed that the set, in which Lady Gaga performs a tribute to “The Sound of Music” at the 2015 Oscars to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the film, “obviously” was created based on Kiarostami’s “Forest without Leaves”.
“Forest without Leaves” is an installation work that is composed of a number of trunks of plane trees made of pipes of various diameters. The installation work is on display at the Iranian Artists Forum in Tehran.
“As soon as I saw Lady Gaga’s performance I called Kiarostami to talk with him about the issue,” Omidvar said.
“At first he didn’t believe it, but he was shocked after seeing the photos and watching a video of the performance,” he added.
Omidvar said that “Forest without Leaves” was previously on display at “Victor Erice / Abbas Kiarostami: Correspondences”, an exhibition that the Centre Pompidou held in Paris from September 2007 to January 2008 to compare works by the two filmmakers and artists.
“If the case is brought to court, I can support Kiarostami’s claim by the film I took of his work at the exhibition in the Centre Pompidou,” he stated.
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