The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Mohammad RASOULOF
Human Rights & Society Politics & War 2024 168 min Germany, France, Iran
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Synopsis

Totalitarianism and dictatorial thinking at the heart of an Iranian family

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.

Cast/Avec

  • Soheila Golestani
  • Misagh Zare
  • Mahsa Rostami
  • Setareh Maleki
  • Niousha Akhshi
  • Reza Akhlaghi
  • Shiva Ordooei
  • Amineh Arani

Screenplay

  • Mohammad Rasoulof

Cinematographer

  • Pooyan Aghababaei

Sound

  • Philipp Kemptner
  • Hassan Shabankareh

Music

  • Karzan Mahmood

Production

  • Run Way PicturesCoproduction : Parallel45

Screenings

Wednesday 05 February 2025 20:00
Lieux : Ciné Utopia
Audio : Persian
Subtitles : English
Screening : Public Screening
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Critics

Mohammad Rasoulof’s domestic thriller is an elegant warning to the Iranian regime.
Nicolas Rapold BFI 03/06/2024
When the World Is a Prison - Mohammad Rasoulof’s powerful drama about the authoritarian Iranian government breaks a fourth wall, with consequences.
Alissa Wilkinson The New York Times 24/11/2024

Mohammad RASOULOF

Mohammad RASOULOF
Mohammad RASOULOF

Iranian director, screenwriter, and producer Mohammad Rasoulof’s debut starts with theatre and documentaries before moving on to fictions. Always interested in sociology and politics, all his films (The Twilight (2002), Goodbye (2011), Manuscripts Don’t Burn (2013), A Man of Integrity (2017)) assert their anti-dictatorial thinking.
His next films have been selected and awarded in Festival de Cannes where he won the Best Director prize or even the FIPRESCI Prize, before winning the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

However, while continuing filming, he was accused of ‘endangering national security’, and ‘propaganda’ and was forced to stay in Iran. He was arrested in 2022.
Despite government pressure to withdraw his new feature film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”, he decided to flee Iran for Europe and to present it at the Festival de Cannes where it won 5 prizes.
None of his films have been screened in Iran due to censorship.

More about the director

Filmography

  • The Seed of the Sacred Fig 2024
  • There is no Evil 2020
  • A Man of Integrity 2017
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