CANNES, France - The European Union has awarded Iranian director Asghar Farhadi a cash prize to help fund his first European film, set to star Marion Cotillard.
Farhadi and his producer Alexandre Mallet-Guy were presented with the EU Media Prize on Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival.
The €60,000 ($77,000) award goes to a project considered to have box-office potential.
Farhadi won this year's foreign-language Academy Award for "A Separation."
His next film will be shot in France with Cotillard, who won a best-actress Oscar for "La Vie En Rose."
Farhadi didn't provide any more details.
He said that "when asked about a film that has already been made I haven't much to say. But I now realize it's even harder to talk about a film that hasn't even been made yet."
