Could Trump's New Travel Ban Affect the Oscar Race Again?

Anousheh Ansari accepts the Oscar on behalf of Iranian director Asghar Farhadi / Getty Images

President Trump’s original travel ban arguably helped Asghar Farhadi’s “The Salesman” win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film in February, but don’t expect his newly announced ban to have much effect on the current awards race.

That’s because most of the countries on the new list don’t have significant film industries and rarely, if ever, participate in the awards contest. The two that do participate and have announced Oscar entries this year, Iran and Venezuela, are not considered among the top contenders at the moment.

Last year, Iran submitted “The Salesman,” which had screened in Cannes and was from the acclaimed director whose 2011 drama “A Separation” had given the country its only Academy Award. (The Oscar for foreign-language film officially goes to the submitting country, not the filmmaker.)

Also Read: Oscars 2017: Iranian Director Asghar Farhadi Denounces Trump's 'Inhumane,' 'Deceitful' Travel Ban

When Trump’s ban on travel into the United States from a number of predominantly Muslim countries was initially announced, Farhadi said that they would not attend the ceremony — and even when the ban was overturned by the courts, the director opted to stay away in protest.

The ban helped make Farhadi and his film a cause celebre in the weeks leading up to the Oscars — and in a year that found his film in a tight race with “Toni Erdmann” and “A Man Called Ove,” it may well have been enough to tip the scales and give Iran its second Oscar out of 22 Academy Awards submissions.

But this year’s Iranian submission, Narges Abyar’s “Breath,” doesn’t have nearly the profile that “The Salesman” had. Dealing with the daydreams of a young girl during the Iranian Revolution of the 1970s, its exposure has come at smaller festivals including the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and the Fajr Film Festival.

Also Read: State Department Deletes Tweet Congratulating Iranian Director for Oscar Win

Venezuela, meanwhile, has submitted 27 films to the Academy over the years, with 2014’s “The Liberator” making the shortlist but falling short of a nomination. None of the other submissions made it that far.

This year’s Venezuelan submission is Ignacio Castillo Cottin’s “El Inca,” the true story of a professional boxer who was arrested on suspicion of killing his wife. Again, it is not one of the top contenders in a foreign-language race that also includes Sweden’s “The Square,” Germany’s “In the Fade,” Israel’s “Foxtrot,” Cambodia’s “First They Killed My Father” and Russia’s “Loveless.”

Among the other countries in Trump’s new travel ban, Chad has submitted films to the Oscars twice, once in 2002 and once in 2013, without being nominated or shortlisted. Yemen submitted for the first time last year but did not make the shortlist.

Syria, Libya and Somalia have never participated in the race.

22 'Rediculous' Typos From Trump's White House, From 'Attaker' to 'Unpresidented' (Photos)

You can't have "the best words" if you can't correctly spell them. Even more serious than the Trump administration's beef with CNN is its beef with grammar, as is evidenced by a score of tweets and official White House documents that are riddled with spelling errors, misused words and downright gibberish. Here are 21 of the worst (and most laughable) offenses.
"Innaccurately"

Oh, the irony! The White House tried to call out the Congressional Budget Office for inaccuracy but inaccurately spelled the word "innaccurately."
White House/Twitter
"Honered"

Before "covfefe," there was "honered." Of course, newly-inaugurated Trump meant to tweet that he was "honored," but that's not what happened.
Twitter
"Unpresidented"

According to Huffington Post, Trump Twitter-slammed China for seizing a U.S. underwater drone in December 2016. He also made up a word in the process. By “unpresidented,” we can assume he meant “unprecedented.”
Twitter
"San Bernadino"

The White House got a few things wrong with this list of “unreported” terror attacks. First, many of the incidents actually had been reported. Second, “San Bernardino” was spelled incorrectly.
White House/Twitter
"Attaker"

In the same report, the WH managed to misspell “attacker” 23 times in a row. That has to be some sort of record.
White House/Twitter
"W.E.B. DeBois"

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) botched the name of legendary civil rights activist, W.E.B. DuBois. It’s DU Bois, as in “DU” they realize the epic mistake they made?
Twitter
"Deepest apologizes"

Apparently, the DOE did catch the gaffe and subsequently tweeted out an apology… sort of.
Twitter/The Washington Post
"Columbia"

This is a common spelling error that also tripped up Steve Harvey in the past. For the record, when referring to the country, the correct spelling is "Colombia."
White House/Twitter
“Possibility of lasting peach”

According to a White House press release, one of Trump’s objectives during his most recent visit to Israel was to “promote the possibility of lasting peach” between Israelis and Palestinians. Who needs peace when you can have peaches?
White House/Twitter
“Couple with changes”

Another typo from the same press release. This time, someone left off the “d” in the word “coupled.” Hence, we have “A new approach, couple with changes.”
White House/Twitter
"Councel"

After Trump tweeted this misspelling on May 18, Merriam-Webster reported that "councel" was their most-searched word of that day.
Twitter/The Hill
"Tapp"

President Obama did not "tapp" Trump's phone at any time during his two terms in office, because there is no such word as "tapp" in the English language.
Twitter
Too vs. To

This was not a tweet. This was Donald Trump's official inauguration portrait... with an egregious typo printed front and center.
Library of Congress
"Teresa May"

This mistake doesn’t seem too critical… until you consider the fact that Teresa (sans “h”) May is the name of a British porn star, not the British Prime Minister. The latter spells her first name with an "h."
White House/Huffington Post
"Hear by"

He should have typed "hereby." Of course, POTUS received a lot of flack for this one, among his many other botched spellings.
Twitter/Pro Publica
"Educatuon"

Failure took the form of a White House Snapchat on April 17. There's no excuse for this one.
White House/Snap
"Thr" and "Gas"

Trump displayed poor spelling in his attempt to shade two credible news outlets via Twitter.
Twitter
"Amoung"

"Amoung," many other things, he will also not use spellcheck.
Twitter
"Predisent"

This was a statement made by Trump's lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, in an official White House document.
White House/Twitter
"Rediculous"

Once again, Trump unleashes a grammatically incorrect Twitter rage at his arch nemesis, CNN.
Twitter/ProPublica
"Make American Great Again"

On August 4, Trump (or more likely one of his editors) botched his own campaign slogan. Is nothing sacred?!
donaldjtrump.com
If you thought those word gaffes were bad, check out this list of celebrity gibberish terms, including Trump's infamous "covfefe."

Also Read: 7 Gibberish Words That Have Outlived ‘Covfefe’ (Photos)
Urban Dictionary
As Merriam-Webster so nicely put it, "heal (to become healthy again)
heel (a contemptible person)."
Twitter

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Welcome to the White House: where the words are made up, and spellcheck doesn’t matter

You can't have "the best words" if you can't correctly spell them. Even more serious than the Trump administration's beef with CNN is its beef with grammar, as is evidenced by a score of tweets and official White House documents that are riddled with spelling errors, misused words and downright gibberish. Here are 21 of the worst (and most laughable) offenses.

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