Perhaps the biggest news to come out of this year’s Cannes Film Festival was the valiant effort of Iranian director, Mohammad Rasoulof, and his film The Seed of The Sacred Fig. Though no stranger to attacks in his home country, this latest film forced Rasoulof on the run from Iran, first taking refuge in an undisclosed European location, eventually landing in Germany. The film has now been sold to Neon Rated in North America (the company behind other international masterpieces and Oscar winners such as Parasite), and as of yesterday, has officially been nominated for an Oscar in the Best International Feature category, having been submitted by Germany, Rasoulof’s adopted home after fleeing Iran.
Watch the official trailer below.
The film, about an investigative judge in the Revolutionary Court in Tehran who grapples with mistrust and paranoia as anti-government protests threaten his family life, received rave reviews at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, where Masoulof debuted with his film Gagooman (2003) over twenty years ago.
In an interview, Rasoulof spoke about his decision to flee his home country, a decision that was anything but easy.
“For many years, my focus was on living in Iran. I wanted to tell stories in my films that were necessary to tell from the heart of Iran. Tolerating being banned from work, being banned from leaving the country, the interrogations, the difficult conditions of making films underground, and going to prison,” Rasoulof said. “All these pressures were part of a long journey. Prison provided an opportunity to reflect on all of this. After my release, I knew that I would soon receive a new sentence from the court and have to return to prison. However, before the verdict, in a bold decision, I started filming The Seed of the Sacred Fig. Midway through filming, the verdict was announced, and just a few days after we finished filming, I learned about the final decision: an eight-year prison from the Court of Appeal. As a filmmaker, I had to choose between continuing to make my films or seeing myself as a victim and returning to prison.”
But despite the filming selling to a major US distributor like Neon, along with additional distributors in Asia and Europe, Rasoulof remains unsure over whether or not he’ll even be able to travel to the US, saying that he’ll have to rely on German authorities to assist with this request.
“Since I still don’t have a passport and have to travel with the documents provided with the city of Hamburg, I wonder if I’ll be able to travel outside of Europe,” Rasoulof said. The director concluded, “I had to choose between prison and leaving Iran. With a heavy heart, I chose exile.”
On the famed film critic website, Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently holds a 96% approval score, with Justin Chang of The New Yorker calling it, “A thriller of propulsive skill and blunt emotional force, marrying the muscularity of an action film to the psychological intensity of a chamber drama.”
The Seed of The Sacred Fig is now showing in select theatres across the world, so keep your eyes peeled for if/when it will come to the UAE.
