Film Forum

Iranian independent director, writer and producer Mohammad Rasoulof was born in Shiraz, Iran in 1972. While studying sociology at university, Rasoulof started his filmmaking career with documentaries and short films. His first film THE TWILIGHT (2002) won Best Film at the Fajr Film Festival in Iran. Following the making of his second film, IRON ISLAND (2005), he faced some issues with censorship laws in Iran and as a result his opportunities to further produce and screen films were largely limited and banned. To this date, Mohammad Rasoulof has produced eight feature films, none of which have been screened in Iran due to censorship, even though his films enjoy a wide audience abroad. His films GOODBYE (2011), MANUSCRIPTS DON’T BURN (2013), A MAN OF INTEGRITY (2017), and THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG all won prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, and his 2020 film THERE IS NO EVIL (a Film Forum premiere) won the Golden Bear at that year’s Berlinale. Rasoulof’s cinema had mostly relied on allegorical narratives as a means for expression, until 2010 when he decidedly opted for a more direct form of engagement. In March 2010, Rasoulof was arrested on set while directing a project together with Jafar Panahi. In the first trial following the arrest, he was sentenced to six years in prison, a sentence that was later reduced to one year. He was then released on bail. Upon returning to Iran from travelling with A MAN OF INTEGRITY in 2017, he was officially barred from leaving the country, a verdict which is still in effect. He was accused of “endangering national security” and “spreading propaganda against the Islamic government” but continued to make films in spite of these censures. On July 8, 2022, Mohammad Rasoulof was arrested after signing a petition criticizing the government crackdown after protests over the deadly collapse of substandard buildings in the southwestern Iranian city of Abadan. On the basis of his prior prison sentence, he was imprisoned and released from the Evin prison in Tehran after seven months in February 2023. Shortly after his release, new investigation proceedings were opened because of the petition as well as the content of several of his films. Barred from travel, Rasoulof participated remotely as a member of the Berlinale Jury 2021. In 2023, Rasoulof was invited to take part in the Cannes Film Festival as a jury member of the Un Certain Regard section but could not attend the festival due to his travel ban by Iranian Authorities, after which he made THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG clandestinely. In April 2024, the director was sentenced to eight years in prison as well as flogging, a fine and confiscation of his property. Following the announcement of the selection of his film THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG for the main competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, cast and crew were interrogated by Iranian authorities, banned from leaving the country, and pressured to convince Rasoulof to withdraw the film from the festival line-up. Shortly after, Rasoulof and some crew members managed to escape Iran to Europe, some of them after long and strenuous journeys in order to avoid prosecution by Iranian authorities.

Supported by a Humanities New York Action Grant

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