One Of 2024’s Best Movies Earned Its Director An 8-Year Jail Sentence

Released in 2024, Mohammad Rasoulof’s powerful drama, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, was one of the year’s most popular films; however, the Iranian film had significant consequences, as he received a prison sentence for making it. The movie’s theme was about the authoritarian Iranian government and the use of smartphones as surveillance devices.

However, to finish The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Rasoulof made it in secret. There was even a title before the movie starts that reads: “When there is no way, a way must be made.” When the film was released, Iran issued an arrest warrant for the director, sentencing him to flogging and eight years in prison.

The Seed Of The Sacred Fig Was One Of 2024’s Best Movies

The Movie Won Several Cannes Awards & Received An Oscar Nomination

The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a political drama that tells the story of Iman (Missagh Zareh). He is an honest attorney and has a wife, Najmeh (Soheila Golestani), and two daughters: 21-year-old Rezvan (Mahsa Rostami) and her teenage sister, Sana (Setareh Maleki). Iman was named an investigating judge in Tehran’s revolutionary court.

While Iman wants to do the best he can and do it justly, he finds that it is impossible. The Iranian government demands that he rubber-stamp severe sentences without investigating them. He decides the Iranian laws are “God’s laws,“ and it is his moral responsibility to do what he is told, even if it is not right. His daughters, however, disagree.

This leads to the film’s central conflict, as the moral implications of what Iman is asked to do in the face of his religious beliefs contradict his family’s ethical beliefs. Mohammad Rasoulof creates a personal film, set in the family’s small apartment, which focuses on their deteriorating relationship amid Iman’s new role in the government.

The film is primarily a family drama that explores differing beliefs. However, Rasoulof then took it one step further, and that is likely what angered the Iranian government. He showed footage of protests in the streets and the murder of a woman named Mahsa Amini while she was in police custody in 2022.

The Seed Of The Sacred Fig has a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score, with an audience score of 94%. It was nominated for the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best International Feature Film. At Cannes, Rasoulof won the Jury Special Prize, the FIPRESCI Award, the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, and the François Chalais Award for Best Film.

The Iranian Government’s Reaction To The Seed Of The Sacred Fig Explained

Iran Has Strong Censorship Laws In Place For Filmmakers

After the Cannes Film Festival accepted The Seed of the Sacred Fig for screening, the Iranian government took action (via The New York Times). They interrogated the cast and crew of the film and issued travel bans on them. This then led the Iranian government to order the arrest of director Mohammad Rasoulof, who was sentenced to flogging and eight years in prison.

Iranian filmmakers work under strict censorship rules. Over the past years, hundreds have been killed and thousands arrested in government crackdowns surrounding the censorship of filmmakers in the country. Negative depictions of religious figures and overt criticism of the government or Islam are strictly forbidden (via ABC News).

That is how Rasoulof ran afoul of the government, and why Iran found him in violation of the law. Other rules placed on Iranian filmmakers include women remaining in the hijab, and they also can’t sing or dance on the screen. Sexual contact is also banned, as is consumption of alcoholic beverages.

According to Amnesty International, hundreds of people are routinely flogged in Iran every year, sometimes in public. Under Iranian law, more than 100 “offenses” are punishable by flogging. Randa Habib, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, spoke on the punishment:

“These cruel and inhuman punishments are a shocking assault on human dignity and violate the absolute international prohibition on torture and other ill-treatment.”

What Happened To The Seed Of The Sacred Fig’s Director, Mohammad Rasoulof

Mohammad Rasoulof Fled From Iran To Avoid Arrest

Mohammad Rasoulof has not been flogged or imprisoned. Instead, Rasoulof and several of the film’s crew escaped the country, and they remain in exile. Rasoulof ​​​​​​had learned the Iranian government planned to arrest him while he was still shooting the movie. His attorney stated that he had time to complete his new film (via The New York Times).

However, he then heard Iran wanted to make an example of him. He was arrested in 2010 for making his movie about the Green Movement during the 2009 presidential election, a film he never finished. He spent seven months in jail in 2022 for signing a petition critical of the government.

Knowing that the government would learn about The Seed of the Sacred Fig when they arrested him, it would mean much harsher punishment than just a prison sentence. He knew this would end his filmmaking career, and despite a dream of being an Iranian filmmaker, he knew he had to leave the country.

Rasoulof left everything he owned behind, including his electronic devices and identification, and he met a network of people who specialize in helping people escape Iran. This led to a treacherous journey that took 28 days to get him to safety, where he was then presented to the German Embassy, and they sent him to Germany.

Six days later, he had his movie ready to show at the Cannes Film Festival. After the screening of The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, he received a standing ovation. However, he said he plans to return:

“I had the opportunity to live comfortably outside Iran for some 20 years, but I was determined to stay as long as I could keep my camera on… I will go back there. It could be next week or a few years down the line, after making a few movies here. But I know that I will go back.”

Source: The New York Times, ABC News, Amnesty International, The New York Times