Mohammad Rasoulof made it to the Cannes premiere of his movie “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” however solely after a dangerous escape from Iran earlier than an eight-year jail sentence. handed down by the authorities. The creator arrived in Europe 28 days after leaving with a backpack full of just a few garments.
The expertise was equal to being on a battlefield, he stated, till he arrived in a metropolis that provided the relative security of a German consulate. “The technique of leaving Iran was, in actual fact, fairly harrowing, and it was very, very scary, particularly the mountainous street I needed to take to depart and go to a neighboring nation,” Rasoulof says.
“Fig” is about in the course of the 2022 protests over the demise of Mahsa Amini, a younger girl arrested for violating the regime’s obligatory hijab legislation. Rasoulof was impressed to make the movie whereas in jail for criticizing the federal government’s crackdown on civil protests. One of the guards took the perpetrator to a nook of the jail not seen by the safety cameras.
As Rasoulof recollects: “He requested me, ‘What do you assume will occur on the finish of those protests?’ And I stated, “I do not know.” I don’t know. You’re the one who’s on the surface. How do I do know?’ And he stated, “Well, I imply, what’s your ranking?” It appears fairly scary. So when the protests finish, do you assume you may be keen to say we did not mistreat you in jail?’ And that made me understand that there’s a very deep gulf between what is going on inside the system itself.”
After Rasoulof was launched, his attorneys knowledgeable him that they believed he would get a for much longer jail sentence for signing statements and making anti-regime movies and documentaries. “I did not actually need to play the position of a sufferer,” she recollects. “I could not familiarize yourself with it. And at that time I knew I needed to depart Iran. Either they might arrest me on the set of filming this film, or the eight-year sentence that my attorneys thought would develop into a conviction and I must go to jail,” as soon as once more.
The Iranian auteur had conceived a movie about censorship, however a gathering with one other jail official introduced the plot of “Fig” to life. When the officer advised the director that he was considering suicide due to strain from his household and kids to work inside the system, “in jail he gave me a pen that made me need to write a narrative a couple of household the place there was a deep divide between relations in how they checked out occasions.
When Rasoulof bought out of jail and began watching movies of the protests that individuals had captured on their cell telephones, he bought much more motivated.
“Fig” has develop into a textbook instance of an underground movie. The crew would at all times be seen in public, however Rasoulof directed nearly from afar. And if somebody approached them, the actors would swap to a distinct, “Plan B”-approved script.
In one case, the actors needed to act as stuntmen in a chase scene, hitting one another’s vehicles, which, looking back, Rasoulof admits was “loopy.” There was additionally a key second the place the household patriarch (Missagh Zareh) has a dramatic downfall. The manufacturing initially recruited a number of stuntmen for that scene, however realized that as a result of these professionals had been consistently switching between initiatives, “Fig” could be found in the event that they confirmed up on set.
“In the tip, he determined to do it himself, which was a really harmful factor to do,” Rasoulof notes. “And so this movie actually would not have been doable and would not have been completed with out all these sacrifices made by everybody on the crew.”
In March Rasoulof discovered that his conviction could be upheld. He will surely have been sentenced to eight years and, when the movie was proven, he may have seen a brand new sentence of 10 to fifteen years in complete.
The connections he made throughout his final incarceration helped him achieve freedom.
“While I used to be in jail, I additionally met unlucky individuals who advised me that if I ever determined to depart Iran, they may assist me achieve this,” Rasoulof says. “So once I left my dwelling, the very first thing I did was contact these individuals I assumed I knew properly in a secure manner, and so they helped me depart Iran.”
But earlier than he left, Rasoulof acquired a easy instruction: “I merely advised my editor that, it doesn’t matter what, it’s important to end this movie. It does not matter if I get arrested or not.”
“Fig” was not solely accomplished, however was screened at Cannes, the place it received a particular prize from the competitors jury. Just a few months later, Germany selected it as its worldwide entry for the Academy Awards. Yet, as he speaks from a secret and secure place, Rasoulof’s harrowing escape remains to be contemporary in his thoughts.
“I actually considered taking it as materials for a movie whereas I used to be going via that journey,” Rasoulof reveals. “And I believe the method of therapeutic from these traumas is basically greatest via creative creation. I additionally hope that very quickly the Iranian individuals and Iranian Americans who want to remain out of Iran will be capable of resolve the place to stay and the way they need to stay.”
