Financial Tribune- The director of film musical 'La La Land', who won the top prize at the Directors Guild of America Awards ahead of the Oscars later this month, backs Iranian director Asghar Farhadi who decided not to attend the Oscar ceremony because of Trump's travel ban.�

Damien Chazelle, 32, said he aimed to "celebrate the act of dreaming", BBC reported. He and many other directors also addressed US President Donald Trump's travel ban in their speeches.

Chazelle praised Farhadi and said excluding filmmakers was "anti-art". He said Farhadi-whose film 'The Salesman' is nominated for an Oscar-came from "a country my government tells me I shouldn't be in dialogue with".

Iran is one of the seven mainly-Muslim countries affected by President Trump's order, which has been temporarily suspended by a federal court judge. Trump's appeal to reinstate the ban was also rejected.