Mixed emotions for director Rasoulof as he brings new film to Cannes after fleeing Iran

Record ID: 1814666

  • Title: Mixed emotions for director Rasoulof as he brings new film to Cannes after fleeing Iran
  • Date: 24th May 2024
  • Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 24, 2024) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RASOULOF IN INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) EXILED IRANIAN FILMMAKER, MOHAMMAD RASOULOF, SAYING: "In the last few years I was interrogated so much and went to court, and in prison and was so much in contact with the people who run the prison system that for me this question arose about the people who help this system run. What's their mindset? How do they think? What sort of people are they? So I decided to tell a story about them. I do not mean of course that they're all the same, but I wanted to tell the individual story of one of them. So the most important thing that came to my mind about this story, and what I wanted to explore, was their commitment or devotion. How does this system work, through the devotion of individuals, and how does it keep going on through that." CANNES PORT / RASOULOF IN INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) EXILED IRANIAN FILMMAKER, MOHAMMAD RASOULOF, SAYING: "I first came to Cannes 20 years ago, so my presence in Cannes is about the trajectory that I've been on and I'm very happy to be here today. Cannes helps the voice of films to be better heard and that's very important for me. After Cannes, I intend to work on a few projects that I have at hand, pick one and work on it. It might be an animation project, or I might work with clay characters or something else. I'm not sure what will come first. These are all stories from the past I've already prepared. Maybe I’ll do other work, but what's important is that I'm here to work." RASOULOF IN INTERVIEW RASOULOF'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) EXILED IRANIAN FILMMAKER, MOHAMMAD RASOULOF, SAYING: "I can't predict the future, let alone make any political predictions but what I am certain of is that we have to keep fighting for freedom and for democracy. For now, we are just focusing on the necessity of this struggle. I'm not sure when it will finally happen, when the Iranian people will get rid of this regime, but it will happen. I am optimistic." VARIOUS OF RASOULOF LEAVING INTERVIEW
  • Embargoed: 7th June 2024 13:16
  • Keywords: Cannes film festival Iran Iran protests Iranian director Mahsa Amini Mohammad Rasoulof Rasoulof Cannes The Seed of the Sacred Fig The Seed of the Sacred Fig film
  • Location: CANNES, FRANCE / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS / UNKNOWN LOCATION / TEHRAN, IRAN
  • City: CANNES, FRANCE / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS / UNKNOWN LOCATION / TEHRAN, IRAN
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Film,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA007532224052024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Exiled Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof said on Friday (May 24) that his Cannes Film Festival competition entry, about a court official's family during his country's 2022 protests, was born out of his own experiences with the justice system.
    Rasoulof was in the French Riviera town to premiere "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" almost two weeks after announcing he had fled Iran in the wake of his sentencing to eight years in jail and flogging.
    His lawyer said the 51-year-old had been sentenced for statements criticising authorities and making underground films. Iran's culture minister Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili told state media this month that Rasoulof's new film had been made illegally and there would be a crackdown on movies without permits.
    Attending Cannes came with mixed feelings, Rasoulof told Reuters in an interview.
    He said that the idea for the film had come to him after being arrested and detained several times. He has been charged with offences ranging from filming without a permit to "collusion against national security".
    "In the last few years I was interrogated so much, went to court, and in prison was so much in contact with the people who run the prison," said Rasoulof, who won the Berlin Film Festival's top award with his 2020 drama about capital punishment "There Is No Evil".
    "For me this question arose about the people who help this system run. What's their mindset? How do they think? What sort of people are they?"
    The film focuses on an investigating judge who grows increasingly stressed and paranoid as protests unfold across Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman arrested by the morality police for allegedly flouting dress codes.
    At home, his two daughters push back against his tightening grip over their lives while his wife tries to back him up.
    "I first came to Cannes 20 years ago, so my presence in Cannes is about the trajectory that I began and I'm very happy to be here today," Rasoulof said.
    He had several other upcoming projects, including one that could be animated. "I thought that if I go to prison, the stories would remain to be told," he added.
    "I decided first to do the work that was left to do, and after that if the Islamic Republic still exists, and if these sentences still stand, that's when it will be the time to go to prison."
    Iranian security forces have continued their crackdown on dissent since the protests that spiralled into some of the worst political turmoil since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
    Iranian officials have blamed the protests and unrest on Iran's enemies, especially the United States and arch-foe Israel.
    (Production: Christian Levaux, Hanna Rantala)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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