The widely expected decision by the Iranian Film Board was announced on Thursday by the Farabi Cinema Foundation, which is the country’s international film body.

The delegation reviewed 44 Iranian films, and chose A Hero from a final shortlist of three, above Ahmad Bahrami’s Wasteland and Manijeh Hekmat’s Bandar Band.

'A Hero' debuted at Cannes to strong reviews and won the festival’s Grand Prix prize in its main competition. 

"A Hero" is the story of Rahim , who is in prison for a debt that he was unable to pay. During a two-day leave, an act of kindness provides him with an opportunity to convince his creditor to withdraw the complaint so he can go free, but not everything goes as planned.

Amir Jadidi, Mohsen Tanabandeh, Raana Azadivar, Fereshteh Sadr Orafai and Sarina Farhadi are among the cast members of the flick.

Farhadi has previously won two international Oscars for, respectively, “A Separation” in 2011 and “The Salesman” in 2016,  the former of which was also nominated for original screenplay.