Acclaimed Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof will attend the upcoming 2025 Göteborg Movie Pageant together with his newest movie, household drama and political thriller “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Germany’s submission to this yr’s worldwide function Oscar race which made the Oscar shortlist on Dec. 17.
Selection charges the movie, which he additionally wrote and co-produced, as one of many 5 frontrunners within the worldwide function class to attain an Oscar nomination on Jan. 17.
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig” has additionally scored Golden Globe and Critics Alternative nominations for foreign-language movie, and gained the Nationwide Board of Overview’s greatest worldwide movie award.
Banned in Rasoulof’s house nation, the movie has already garnered worldwide recognition for its poignant narrative and exploration of political themes. Rasoulof, who at the moment lives in exile in Germany after being sentenced to eight years in jail and flogging by the Iranian regime as he wrapped “Sacred Fig,” continues to create work that critiques the nation’s oppressive authorities.
Rasoulof’s profession has been marked by his unflinching concentrate on the social and political struggles inside Iran. His movies have usually explored themes of energy, submission, and the dynamics of oppression and civil disobedience.
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig” continues that mission, telling the fictional story of Iman, a regime-loyal investigating choose in Tehran’s Revolutionary Courtroom whose life unravels following the loss of life of Mahsa Amini, a younger lady who died in police custody after being arrested for “improper” hijab-wearing.
Amini’s loss of life sparks widespread protests throughout Iran, and the movie mixes in archival footage of them because it portrays the following emotional and ideological turmoil that impacts Iman and his household. As tensions rise each at house and in his skilled life, the disappearance of a gun turns into a pivotal second within the story upping the ante on the movie’s pressure as Iman’s distrust and paranoia, even of his family, builds.
World premiering on the 2024 Cannes Movie Pageant, with Rasoulof miraculously in attendance, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” gained a jury created Particular Jury Prize, having gleaned the very best opinions of any movie in competitors in accordance with one ballot. Selection referred to as it “masterful” and a “considering individual’s thriller.”
Rasoulof’s earlier work consists of standout titles resembling “The White Meadows” (2009) and “A Man of Integrity” (2017), which have earned him recognition on the worldwide stage. Regardless of the threats and persecution he faces in Iran, the director’s movies stay uncompromising, highlighting the facility of artwork within the face of authoritarianism. He’s at the moment creating an animated faeture in regards to the Iranian revolution.
“It’s an honor to welcome Mohammad Rasoulof to the Göteborg Movie Pageant as the principle visitor in our Focus: Disobedience,” mentioned Pia Lundberg, Inventive Director of the Göteborg Movie Pageant of as we speak’s announcement. “His braveness and uncompromising work as a filmmaker, now in exile, remind us of the facility of artwork to problem authority and make clear injustice. Rasoulof’s movies, created underneath excessive circumstances, aren’t solely inventive masterpieces however acts of civil disobedience that encourage us all to face up for freedom and human rights.”
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig” would be the centerpiece of the pageant’s Focus: Disobedience program, screening on Jan. 30. It will likely be adopted by a Q&A with Rasoulof. Along with his personal movie, Rasoulof can be credited because the screenwriter for “Seven Days” by Ali Samadi Ahadi, one other movie featured at this yr’s pageant.
Rasoulof’s movie opens in Swedish cinemas on March 7, distributed by Triart Movie. The Göteborg Movie Pageant runs Jan. 25 to Feb. 2, 2025.
John Hopewell contributed to this text.