In an Oscars night with no shortage of political undercurrents, the 89th Academy awards took on added regional significance for the global Muslim community when Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim actor to win an acting Oscar.
In addition, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi won the best foreign language award for his film The Salesman, and Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara won the best short documentary award for The White Helmets, their film about volunteer rescue workers in war-torn Syria.
Ali picked up the best supporting actor award for his portrayal of a drug dealer in coming-of-age drama Moonlight.
A first-time nominee, the 43-year-old American saw off competition from Britain’s Dev Patel, veteran US actors Jeff Bridges and Michael Shannon, and newcomer Lucas Hedges.
“I want to thank my teachers, my professors,” Ali said. “One thing that they consistently told me: ‘It’s not about you. It’s about these characters. You are a servant. You’re in service to these stories and these characters’.”
He thanked his fellow cast members and his wife, Amatus Sami-Karim, who gave birth to their first child, a girl, just days earlier.
Moonlight is the story of a young African-American growing up in a rough neighbourhood of Miami. In a brief but acclaimed performance, Ali's character, Juan, imparts life lessons to the film's protagonist, Chiron, that help him survive in prison and in the outside world.
The role also won Ali, who was born in Oakland, California, best supporting actor at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Ali, a Muslim convert since 1999 with a Christian minister for a mother, joined the minority Ahmadiyya community in 2001.
Muslims have won Oscars in several categories over the years — including Pakistani documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and feature director Asghar Farhadi — but no Muslim actor had ever taken home a statuette for acting.
Ellen Burstyn, who won the best actress Oscar in 1975 for her role in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, has practised a blend of Sufism and other religions since her late 30s but says she considers herself a "spirit open to the truth" rather than a Muslim.
Ali recently told British magazine Radio Times that he discovered he was on an FBI watch list after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
“If you convert to Islam after a couple of decades of being a black man in the US, the discrimination you receive as a Muslim doesn’t feel like a shock,” he said.
“I’ve been pulled over, asked where my gun is, asked if I’m a pimp, had my car pulled apart. Muslims will feel like there’s this new discrimination that they hadn’t received before — but it’s not new for us.”
Ali's previous notable roles included appearances in Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond the Pines, Gary Ross's civil war-era drama Free State of Jones, the final two Hunger Games films and, on television, Netflix's Marvel's Luke Cage.
He is best known however for his Emmy-nominated portrayal of White House lobbyist turned chief of staff Remy Danton in the Netflix political drama House of Cards.
Born Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore — named after a child of the biblical prophet Isiah — and raised near San Francisco, Ali studied mass communications at St Mary’s College of California. He made his professional debut performing with the California Shakespeare Festival and, soon after, earned a master’s degree in acting from New York University.
Farhadi, meanwhile, stayed away from the gala in protest at US president Donald Trump’s travel ban.
The filmmaker initially planned to attend the Oscars but changed his mind after Trump signed an order banning citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, from entering the United States.
The ban was later blocked by judges, but Farhadi decided there were too many “ifs and buts” about whether he would be allowed to enter the country.
The film’s lead actress, Taraneh Alidoosti, also boycotted the event, calling the ban “racist”.
In a statement read at the Oscars in his name, Farhadi said he was staying away in solidarity as people had been “disrespected” by Trump’s policy.
“Dividing the world into the US and ‘our enemies’ categories creates fear — a deceitful justification for aggression and war,” he said in the message, read by Iranian-born US engineer and astronaut Anousheh Ansari.
“These wars prevent democracy and human rights in countries which have themselves been victims of aggression.
“Filmmakers can turn their cameras to capture shared human qualities and break stereotypes of various nationalities and religions. They create empathy between us and others — an empathy which we need today more than ever.”
At the age of 44, Farhadi has established himself as Iran's most acclaimed director. This was his second Oscar victory, following his 2012 win for A Separation, a powerful family drama about Iran's fractured social classes.
* Agence France-Presse
