“The Seed of the Sacred Fig” by Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof (Goodbye (2011), Don’t Burn (2013), Man of Integrity (2017), There is no Evil (2020)) which has been selected lately to represent Germany at the Academy, is our new LuxFilmLab.
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival, the director had to flee his country to escape prison and present his film without censorship or dictatorship.
“I had to choose between prison and leaving Iran. With a heavy heart, I chose exile.”
After winning his Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2020, he worked for four years on his new feature film. This one is a political echo of the movement “Femme, Vie, Liberté” that was shaking the Islamic Republic at the time.
The film told the story of :
Iman, an investigating judge on Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, grapples with mistrust and paranoia as nationwide political protests intensify and his gun mysteriously disappears. Suspecting the involvement of his wife Najmeh and his daughters Rezvan and Sana, he imposes drastic measures at home, causing tensions to rise. Step by step, social norms and the rules of family life become suspended.
In camera hearing, the director has put a lot of his own experience as a prisoner into the film, as well as his memories such as the title which refers to a tree that grows on an island where he was living in Iran.
A powerful political and domestic drama not to miss!
