Police have issued an urgent appeal for help to find a missing boy.
13.05.2024 - 15:21 / deadline.com
Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof has left Iran and is currently staying in what he described as an “undisclosed location in Europe” in a statement shared with the international press this afternoon.
“I arrived in Europe a few days ago after a long and complicated journey,” Rasoulof said in the statement, which you can read in full below.
News of Rasoulof’s journey comes a week after his lawyer confirmed that Iranian authorities had handed the filmmaker an eight-year prison sentence for “signing statements and making films and documentaries.” Days after the sentence was announced, Rasoulof’s latest film The Seed Of The Sacred Fig was handed a competition spot at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
“I strongly object to the unjust recent ruling against me that forces me into exile. However, the judicial system of the Islamic Republic has issued so many cruel and strange decisions that I do not feel it is my place to complain about my sentence,” Rasoulof’s statement reads.
“Death sentences are being executed as the Islamic Republic has targeted the lives of protesters and civil rights activists. It’s hard to believe, but right now as I’m writing this, the young rapper, Toomaj Salehi is held in prison and has been sentenced to death. The scope and intensity of repression has reached a point of brutality where people expect news of another heinous government crime every day. The criminal machine of the Islamic Republic is continuously and systematically violating human rights.”
Rasoulof continues to say in the statement that Iranian authorities have “summoned and threatened” several members of the cast and crew that worked on The Seed Of The Sacred Fig. The filmmaker says Iranian intelligence forces have
Police have issued an urgent appeal for help to find a missing boy.
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Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off the Cannes Film Festival where it won several awards, Mohammad Rasoulof‘s “The Seed of The Sacred Fig” has been acquired by a flurry of high profile distributors in major international territories. Films Boutique, which represents the critically acclaimed political drama globally, has sold it to Lionsgate for the U.K.
Often, the juries at the Cannes Film Festival will try to make a political statement in their choices for the winners of the world’s most famous film festival. Not this year. At least, not in the way they might have.
Marta Balaga Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” won the Fipresci award at Cannes. The jury of the International Federation of Film Critics called it “a courageous story set in modern-day Iran that deals with the conflict between tradition and progress, depicted in a very powerful and imaginative way.” Following a rapturous screening and 2024 record 12-minute standing ovation, the film became a Palme d’Or frontrunner, reported Variety.
“If we had to deal with cocaine, it would have been easier,” joked The Seed of the Sacred Fig filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof this AM at a Cannes presser about his entanglement with totalitarian Iranian authorities over his cinema which prompted the filmmaker to flee his homeland from imprisonment.
Ellise Shafer Mohammad Rasoulof reflected on his decision to flee Iran at the Cannes Film Festival press conference for his latest film, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” on Saturday. Rasoulof received news of the charges against him in the final weeks of shooting, but decided to risk arrest and finish the film before leaving the country. “Obviously, there was tremendous pressure on my shoulders,” Rasoulof said of the decision.
CANNES – After screening “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” a world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, one has to breathe a sigh of relief that director and screenwriter Mohammad Rasoulof is safely out of Iran. A victim of a politically motivated jail sentence for supporting the 2022 Masha Amini hijab protests, Rasoulof‘s latest feature will likely anger the Iranian government even more.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Mohammad Rasoulof‘s latest film that he received an eight-year prison sentence from Iranian authorities for making, earned a rapturous 12-minute standing ovation at its Cannes Film Festival premiere on Friday. Rasoulof risked his life by appearing at the premiere as he fled Iran for Europe on May 13 to avoid going to prison.
Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic For more than two decades, Iman (Misagh Zare) has functioned as a civil servant, doing work that his kids — who represent Iran’s younger generation — would be ashamed of. Better to keep them in the dark. At last, for his loyalty, Iman has been given a promotion, not to judge (the job he wants) but to inspector (a job no one wants).
This afternoon, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof debuted his latest feature, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, in Competition here at the Cannes Film Festival to a nearly 15-minute standing ovation.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof a few days ago absconded from his country with a heavy heart after being sentenced to eight years in prison and flogging by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court for making his latest film, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.” Ironically, the groundbreaking drama is centered on an investigating judge operating within the same judicial system that has been heavily harassing the film’s producers and actors, and that intended to put Rasoulof behind bars. Having made the tough decision of escaping his beloved homeland, Rasoulof – who is among Iran’s most prominent directors – prepares to attend the film’s world premiere at Cannes on Friday.
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The Directors Guild of America is standing in solidarity with Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof who had fled authoritarian Iran, and is currently at the Cannes Film Festival with his competition title The Seed of the Sacred Fig.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof will be attending the Cannes world premiere of his latest work, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” having traveled to Europe clandestinely after receiving an eight-year prison sentence from the country’s authorities for making the film. Rasoulof decided to leave Iran illegally and arrived in Europe a few days ago, shortly after being sentenced to eight years in prison and flogging by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court.
Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof will attend Friday’s Cannes screening of his competition movie The Seed of the Sacred Fig.
Marta Balaga International filmmakers are calling for solidarity with Mohammad Rasoulof and persecuted filmmakers in Iran in an open letter, shared with Variety. Rasoulof – about to screen his latest film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” in Cannes’ main competition – was sentenced to imprisonment and torture by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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Selena Kuznikov Neon has acquired the North American rights to “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” directed by Mohammad Rasoulof. The thriller is set to premiere In Competition in Cannes on May 24, and marks Rasoulof’s first return to the Cannes Film Festival, after being barred from traveling.