Filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof on fleeing Iran after making a movie in secret

FRANCE 24 English

In this arts24 episode, we talk to fugitive director Mohammad Rasoulof about his powerful Iranian film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”, a brazen and startling picture about the misogyny and theocracy in his country. The director had to flee Iran where he was sentenced to prison for his filmmaking. The movie won a special prize at the Cannes Film Festival in May where it premiered. French culture editor Louise Dupont sat down with him in Paris.  Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00Today, in Ars24, we meet a director who made a 28-day journey on foot through the mountains

00:17to cross the border and flee Iran illegally.

00:21Days later, he was at the Cannes Film Festival to present his latest feature, The Seed of

00:26the Sacred Fig.

00:41Mohammad Rasuloff chose to escape the regime in Iran when they announced he was being sentenced

00:46to prison again.

00:50Mohammad Rasuloff, hello.

00:51Thank you for being with us.

00:53First, can you explain to us why you had to flee Iran?

00:59For many years, I was under a lot of pressure, oppressed, if you like.

01:05But despite all that, I decided to stay in my country, close to the society I loved and

01:13was attached to, and to continue making my films.

01:17But the result of this stubbornness was that I was sentenced to jail time, lashes, and

01:22I was persecuted by the Iranian secret services.

01:28When I was sentenced to eight years in prison, I asked myself whether I wanted to stay in

01:32Iran or whether I'd rather carry on being a filmmaker.

01:40Of course, I could have gone to prison and accepted my status as a martyr of filmmaking

01:46and as a victim, but for me, being a victim was unacceptable.

01:58I prefer being a filmmaker.

02:02I wanted to give myself the means to continue working.

02:08You left everything behind and took a lot of risks.

02:11Tell us how you escaped.

02:16I have to say that one of the advantages of being in prison is that you meet people who

02:21can help you leave the country in secret.

02:25While I was there, several prisoners told me, the day you decide to escape, tell us

02:31and we can help you.

02:36So I said goodbye to my plants at home, looked out of the window, and then embarked on this

02:45rather long crossing.

02:47Once I was in the mountains, looking out over my homeland, I said to myself that I'd return

02:53one day, and I'm still convinced that I will.

03:04The seed of the sacred fig echoes the women life freedom movement that swept Iran after

03:09the death of Massa Amini on the 16th of September 2022, following a violent arrest by police

03:17for wearing a headscarf incorrectly.

03:30When the women life freedom movement began, I was in prison and it was a strange experience

03:40trying to keep up with societal developments from inside.

03:49One day a delegation from the judicial authorities and prison officials came to the cell we were

03:55in to examine the condition of a political prisoner.

04:00One of them discreetly came up to me, took a pen out of his pocket, gave it to me and

04:07told me that he felt really bad, really ashamed to be working in this system.

04:13And he said that every day, as he walked past the prison, he thought about the moment when

04:19he would hang himself on that very spot.

04:25He was constantly being questioned by his children, who asked him, what are you doing

04:32in that prison?

04:34This ordeal of being challenged by his children was very difficult for him.

04:41That conversation was the trigger for me, and I wrote the story of a family who experiences

04:48this gulf between two generations.

04:50Not all members of the film crew were able to flee Iran.

05:19At Cannes, where he received a special prize, Mohammad Rasulov took advantage of his time

05:24on the red carpet to hold up portraits of two of his actors who had stayed behind, Misak

05:30Zahreh and Soheila Golestani.

05:33You've talked about your concern for your crew who stayed in Iran.

05:38Tell us about the risks and more generally the risks faced by artists who oppose the

05:44regime.

05:47When news of the film's existence leaked, and it was selected for the Cannes Film Festival,

05:54my collaborators were harassed and taken in for questioning.

05:59My cinematographer had his office raided.

06:01My sound engineer had his passport confiscated.

06:05So they were really pressured to ask me to withdraw my film from Cannes.

06:10Obviously, neither of them told me about this request, but I was always worried about my

06:15crew.

06:17Fortunately, the girls who play the three young women were able to leave Iran.

06:25But the others are still there.

06:28And I'm familiar with the Islamic Republic's technique of hanging a sword of Damocles over

06:33the heads of artists, saying, if you move, we'll cut your head off.

06:42But I think the censorship system in Iran has really reached a dead end.

06:47And there are many young artists, many young filmmakers, who continue to try to choose

06:53how they express themselves and get the freedom they need.

06:57It's such a beautiful movie.

06:58How did you create such a masterpiece in secret?

07:02Every time I see the film, I ask myself to what extent it's the film that I'd hoped for.

07:09I always have a feeling of dissatisfaction, of frustration, of thinking that all the pressure

07:14I was under perhaps distracted me and affected my artistic vision.

07:22I really wanted to work longer on the script and not be in such a rush.

07:29But maybe at the same time, those constraints give the film a certain shape.

07:36Maybe if I'd worked under more conventional conditions, the film would have turned out

07:41quite differently.

07:44You use videos from social networks to show the demonstrations and the violence in Tehran.

07:50How important are these cell phones videos in the fight against the regime?

07:55At the time the events took place, I was in prison.

07:59And so as soon as I was released, I felt the urgency, the need to go and see what was going

08:04on.

08:05And so as soon as I could, I went on the internet to do some research and I was very impressed

08:10by the audacity, the extraordinary courage of these young girls.

08:15And I'll never forget the impact those images had on me.

08:19And that's why I included them in my film.

08:23Young men and women were able to use their phones to capture images of this violence,

08:30of the cruelty of the government, and share them with others.

08:36And that's why the Islamic Republic keeps cutting off the internet, to prevent young

08:42people from coming together.

08:45But it has no effect on them, because they don't accept the shackles that the regime

08:51is putting them in.

08:53Mohamed Rasouloff's cinema has always criticized the religious stranglehold in Iran.

09:02In 2017, a Man of Integrity's film about the ravages of corruption earned him a two-year

09:09stint in prison and a ban on leaving the country.

09:15Three years later, he was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin Hall for There Is No Evil,

09:20which talks about the death penalty.

09:22Under house arrest in Iran at the time, Rasouloff asked his daughter to accept the prize on

09:28his behalf.

09:30In the film, you show the contradiction within the civil service.

09:35Do you think that people within the regime could bring it down?

09:38I can't make precise predictions, but I can tell you that this minority, the ones

09:50who are running the country, it's getting smaller every day.

09:54And many people who once supported the regime ideologically have now realized that the system

10:00is a brutal, criminal system that uses them as pawns.

10:05How do you plan to continue the fight now you have left your country?

10:10The most important thing I can do is tell the stories I have collected in my heart.

10:17That's why I left Iran.

10:20That's the duty I chose to fulfill.

10:24To continue working, of course, for me it's a huge challenge.

10:34To manage to do that, in these conditions, to tell stories that build a bridge between

10:43my people and the world, and to bring people closer together.

10:51Mohammad Rasouloff, good luck and thank you for being with us.

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